Six people were confirmed dead in a series of highway collisions Monday in rural Illinois that were blamed on a blinding dust storm, authorities said.
More than 30 people, ages 2 to 80, were hospitalized with injuries ranging from minor to life-threatening, Illinois State Police Maj. Ryan Starrick said at an early evening news conference.
The collisions involving as many as 90 vehicles on Interstate 55 north of Farmersville were reported just before 11 a.m. and included separate pileups on the northbound and southbound sides, state police said.
"The cause of the crash is due to excessive winds blowing dirt from farm fields across the highway leading to zero visibility," Starrick said.
Involved in the collisions were two big-rigs that had been on fire, roughly 28 other commercial vehicles, and as many as 60 passenger cars, Starrick said.
The first pileup was reported on the northbound side of the interstate, which runs through farm country. The major said topsoil and dust from the farms was blown across the roadway.
"This is not uncommon," Starrick said. "This has happened before in various parts of the sate of Illinois."
However, he said, the number of vehicles and casualties involved was unusual. A Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency official said at the early evening news conference that it was difficult to reach the injured because some vehicles were on fire when first responders arrived.
The National Weather Service on Monday forecast "widespread blowing dust," with gusts of 34 mph possible, for the Farmersville area. Winds were out of the northwest, federal forecasters said.
State police said visibility continued to be low in the area. The interstate was closed in both directions north of Farmersville, a small village along a defunct stretch of Route 66, as investigators tried to reconstruct some of the timeline and conduct a secondary search for victims.
Starrick said the interstate could be closed until Tuesday afternoon.
"At this time we feel we have everyone transported safely off the interstate," the major said.
State police said in a statement motorists were urged to seek alternative routes.