Oregon State Police(NEW YORK) — Severe weather can be blamed for the deaths of at least 19 drivers and passengers this past weekend, from an SUV sliding sideways in Oregon to an ambulance overturning in Ohio.
In Ohio, three people were killed from two separate crashes.
In Cambridge, Ohio, an ambulance was transporting a patient on Saturday when the ambulance lost control, drove off the edge of the road and overturned multiple times, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said. There were four emergency medical personnel and one patient in the ambulance at the time; the patient and one of the emergency personnel were killed, authorities said.
In Franklin County, Ohio, a 20-year-old woman was standing outside of her stuck car when another car went off the road and hit her, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said. The young woman died from her injuries, the sheriff’s office said.
Two fatalities were reported in Woodburn, Oregon, after an SUV lost control, slid sideways and was hit by a tractor trailer, the Oregon State Police said. The 36-year-old driver of the SUV and a 23-year-old passenger died, the state police said. It’s believed the SUV may have lost traction because of icy conditions, the state police said.
In Madison County, Iowa, a 79-year-old woman, who was a passenger in a car, died after the driver lost control due to icy roads, the Iowa State Patrol said.
The Illinois State Police reported a fatality Saturday afternoon in Madison County, where the roads were coated with rain and sleet. One car was driving too fast, police said, and it spun out, crashed through a median and entered the opposite lane in front of a second car. The first car overturned, killing the driver, police said. The second car went off the road and hit a guardrail, police said.
In southern Michigan, a 73-year-old was killed in Barry County from a head-on crash on icy roads. A northbound car, trying to avoid a rear-end crash, went into the southbound lane and struck a southbound car, authorities said, killing one person. Icy roads appeared to be a contributing factor, the Barry County Sheriff’s Office said.
Two incidents Saturday morning in Maryland led to three fatalities on the icy roads, the Maryland Transportation Authority Police said. Weather was believed to be a factor in both crashes, but the investigation was continuing, officials said.
Six people died on the roads in Missouri during a weekend in which there were 1,522 crashes and 171 injuries, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
In Indiana, two deadly accidents were reported, both in Marion County, the Indiana State Police said.
Winter weather hit most of the country this weekend, from California to New York to the southern states. There were about a dozen record lows Sunday morning in the Plains, from Texas to the Dakotas. In Wichita, Kansas, the record low was negative 10 degrees.
Monday morning, 19 states are under winter weather alerts, including hard freeze warnings for southern California and southern Texas.
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