On Saturday, March 18, a pileup of dozens of cars on I-96 near Ionia County forced Michigan State Police to close all traffic lanes due to whiteout conditions. The initial crash occurred at approximately 4:40 p.m., but it took the police several hours to clear between 50-100 cars from the road, resulting in the road reopening after 10 p.m. Although there were injuries, fortunately, none of them were severe, and no casualties were reported.
Whiteout conditions came on pretty suddenly, drastically reducing visibility, according to Emily Anderson, one of the people involved in the pileup. “It just kind of hit whiteout, and then all of a sudden you couldn’t really see it until you’re about less than 100 feet,” Anderson told Wood TV 8. “And you start hitting the brakes and you try to downplay it. We just started sliding out of control and then just kind of plowed through the back of a couple of vehicles.”
To add to the chaos, numerous drivers had their headlights turned off during the incident, making it extremely difficult to spot vehicles ahead. The Michigan State Police did not disclose the exact number of people who sustained injuries in the pileup, but the magnitude of the accidents was such that buses had to transport individuals to a temporary warming and reunification facility located in a nearby church.
For hours, drivers and passengers were stranded in their vehicles in the frigid conditions, with many of them sustaining injuries. The road was littered with debris from the numerous car crashes, which had to be cleared before first responders could attend to those injured in the pileup.
Removing the damaged cars from the road proved to be a time-consuming task, causing drivers to wait for hours in the bitter cold. Some of them eventually abandoned their cars and attempted to walk out of the scene, but the slippery conditions made even walking hazardous.
Fortunately, there were only minor injuries and no casualties.