A combination of snow and speed caused a massive pile up involving 60 vehicles on I-41 in the Town of Polk Monday, shutting down the highway southbound between Sherman Road and Hillside Road for six hours.
Five people were taken to area hospitals for non-life threatening injuries. Busses took stranded drivers to Slinger High School while tow trucks brought their vehicles to Pioneer Plaza in Richfield.
- PHOTO GALLERY: Snowstorm Causes 60 Car Pile-Up On I-41
"This one I think was a chain reaction and then basically they started playing ping pong with each other. I know there was a couple that were bounced off of semis," said tow truck driver Paul Williams.
Drivers visited the truck stop to assess the damage of the vehicles, but most couldn't drive away. Those involved say it was a day they'll never forget.
"All of a sudden it was just a white out," said Tyler Tennies.
The chain reaction happened in a matter of seconds.
"These semis all in front of us started jack knifing and then I slammed on my breaks and I was either gonna hit the back of one of them or go in between two of them so I said, ‘Oh I'll go in between both of them and I made it’," said Derick Sekeres.
- PHOTO GALLERY: Wisconsin Gets Dumped With March Snow
Michael Tennies was left with a blown tire on his new car, after being stuck on the highway for three hours.
"Either take the ditch or run into the side of the semi so I took the ditch," said Michael Tennies.
Teresa Hall said she was hit by two trucks.
"I was in the median not facing forward sideways and a truck and along went alongside me and then basically kind of slid onto my hood," said Teresa Hall.
There were at least 300 vehicles involved in snow related incidents in Washington County Monday.
Be sure and try our new SNOWCAST APP! It is the "snow equivalent to STORM SHIELD" - a great new product that gives you high resolution snow forecasts for any part of the nation! It has just been introduced for iPhones, but we are working on the Android version! Just search SNOWCAST in the App Store or click here.
