Motorist captures frightening scene on rain-slicked California highway
Three separate crashes were reported at the same location in Santa Clarita, California, roughly within the span of nine hours amid rain-slicked roads, according to authorities.
One motorist managed to film the frightening scene that unraveled Friday morning during the third accident. Through a rain-speckled windshield, the video shows a box truck careening off a highway and rolling over the side of the guardrail at the State Route 14 and Interstate 5 Freeway interchange near Newhall Pass.
The truck landed upside down over an SUV and a big rig that had been involved in one of the earlier crashes. No one had been inside the latter two vehicles when the third accident occurred.
County firefighters told ABC7 that two people were injured and taken to the hospital after the truck tumbled over the railing. None of the first responders who were investigating the second crash were hurt. One other person had been transported from an earlier crash.
"At first I was in shock," Tomas Dorado, the commuter who caught the scene on camera, told ABC7. "I was in disbelief. I honestly couldn't believe I was witnessing something like that firsthand."
The California Highway Patrol said that weather seemed to have been a factor in the three crashes.
The Hollywood Burbank Airport, located roughly 13 miles southeast of where the accidents occurred, saw 0.02 of an inch of rain Thursday and another 0.11 of an inch of rain Friday as a storm passed through the area, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Alex DaSilva. He added the last time the airport saw any measurable rainfall was on Nov. 8, when it recorded 1.13 inches of rain.
"When there is a long time between rainfall, the oil from cars and other debris accumulates on the roadways," DaSilva said. "After it rains, the oils can become slippery and the roads can become more slippery. Once the roads get coated in oil, it doesn't take much rainfall to turn the roads into a bit of a skating rink."
The CHP told ABC7 that the first of the accidents began around 10:15 p.m. Thursday when a semi-truck jackknifed, with the trailer swinging out and hanging over the side of the road. The second crash was reported at 6:30 a.m. Friday, involving another semi and passenger vehicles. Cleanup crews were called to respond, as the second crash resulted in about 40 gallons of fuel spilling out on the road.
Authorities had been investigating this crash when the third crash took place nearly an hour later.
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