Freezing Rain, Snow and Flash Flooding Create Fatal Vehicle Pileups, Property Damage and Injuries On Sunday, January 18, 2015

 Freezing Rain, Snow and Flash Flooding Create Fatal Vehicle Pileups, Property Damage and Injuries On Sunday, January 18, 2015

A deadly mix of ice and rain caused multi-vehicle pileups on roads from Pennsylvania to Connecticut, and is set to bring more hazardous driving conditions tonight with freezing rain and snow forecast for New England. 

Freezing-rain advisories covered 32 million people earlier today, the Weather Channel said. In areas patrolled by the New Jersey State Police, 428 accidents were reported while 186 requests for aid were made, according to a Twitter post by the police around noon. 

News 12 New Jersey showed videos of accidents on Route 80, Interstate 95 and the Garden State Parkway, each involving more than a dozen cars and trucks driving on roads made treacherous by rain that immediately turned to ice. Officials this morning encouraged people to stay at home.

The Route 80 accident in Leonia, New Jersey, involved more than 38 cars and trucks, News 12 reported. At about 10 a.m., the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey closed the Palisades Interstate Parkway approaches to the George Washington Bridge. The agency also shut the Outerbridge Crossing and Bayonne and Goethals bridges connecting New Jersey and the New York City borough of Staten Island before reopening them with 10 mph speed restrictions. 

In southeast Pennsylvania, one person was killed before 7 a.m. and at least 30 injured in a crash involving 56 vehicles in the westbound lanes of Interstate 76 near Philadelphia, NBC 10 reported. A separate pileup on Interstate 476 in Delaware County left at least two people dead, the Associated Press reported, citing state police.

Salt Spreaders

Numerous accidents were also reported on major highways in Connecticut, including Interstate 91, I-84, I-95 and Route 83, because of the storm, the Hartford Courant reported. A crash caused by the slippery conditions claimed the life of an 88-year-old woman in Connecticut, AP said, citing police.

New York’s Department of Sanitation sent salt spreaders across the city this morning, while New Jersey Transit awaited the salting of roads before resuming some bus routes. A flood warning was later issued citywide until 6 p.m. as the area continues to receive cold rain.
Conditions have since moved above freezing along the I-95 corridor from Boston to Philadelphia, the Weather Channel said. 

Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine could still have freezing rain at 5 p.m., while cold air may later bring between 5 and 10 inches of snow to some inland regions of those states, the channel said.