Blinding dust storm leads to 6 deaths and dozens hospitalized after highway pileups in Illinois

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.

Thirty-seven other people, ages 2 to 80, were hospitalized with injuries from minor to life-threatening, Illinois State Police said in a statement Monday night.

The collisions, reported just before 11 a.m., involved 72 vehicles in multiple pileups along a 2-mile stretch of Interstate 55 north of Farmersville, 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," State Police Maj. Ryan Starrick said at a news conference.

Involved in the collisions were two big rigs that had been on fire, as well as other commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles, the latter of which composed a majority of the wreckage, Starrick said.

All the dead were found in northbound lanes, state police said in their latest statement, although there was also wreckage on the southbound side.

One crash victim was identified as 88-year-old Shirley Harper of Franklin, Wisconson, according to the statement. Others were expected to be identified by the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office in the coming days.

The first pileup was reported on the northbound side of the interstate, which runs through farm country. Starrick said topsoil and dust from nearby farms were blown across the roadway.

"This is not uncommon," Starrick said. "This has happened before in various parts of the state of Illinois."

However, he said, the number of vehicles and casualties was unusual. A Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency official said at the 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. The interstate was closed in both directions north of Farmersville, a small village along a defunct stretch of Route 66, as investigators tried to determine the chain of events.

Starrick said the interstate could be closed until Tuesday afternoon, and state police urged motorists to continue to seek alternative routes.