The Texas Department of Public Safety said on Monday that the dust storm and strong winds on Friday caused 42 crashes, three of which were deadly.
In these numbers, there was “the large pileup south of Canyon, which involved approximately 38 vehicles,” as well as three accidents that killed four people.
One of the accidents that killed people happened at FM 168 and FM 1062, which is about two miles north of Umbarger. The Texas Highway Patrol says that a blown-off stop sign caused the two-car accident that killed one person and hurt another. It was said that John Lucero, 57, of Amarillo, was dead at the scene.
A three-car crash on U.S. 60 near Farwell killed another man from Amarillo. A semi-trailer tried to pull off to the side of the road, but a GMC Sierra hit it from behind. Then the Sierra was hit from behind. Steven Ellard, 71, was driving the GMC and died.
In the third deadly crash, two people died in a three-car accident on I-40 near Alanreed. A Kia Soul hit a truck tractor that was stalled and was then hit from behind by another truck tractor. The 67-year-old driver of the Kia and his 73-year-old passenger, both from Phoenix, Arizona, were declared dead at the scene.
Sgt. Cindy Barkley, a public information officer for DPS, said they were still waiting to find out how many cars were involved in the pileup near Canyon. She also said that most of the accidents they looked into involved more than two cars.
The weather report for Tuesday says that there will be more blowing dust and a very high risk of fire because of stronger winds. This will make it harder to see, and officials are warning people to be careful.
