Massive 75-Car Pile-Up, Worsening Snow Conditions, Forces Kentucky Gov. Beshear To Declare State of Emergency

Winter Storm Brings Icy Conditions To Louisville, Kentucky

(Photo : Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KY - FEBRUARY 11: An icy view looking south down Sixth St. is seen on February 11, 2021 in Louisville, Kentucky. The region was showered with sleet and snow on Wednesday night as temperatures plummeted. The National Weather Service has credited the widespread, disruptive weather to a polar vortex phenomenon.

A massive 75-car pile-up was captured on video that showed cars and semi-trucks strewn across a highway found in the eastern parts of Kentucky after a heavy snowstorm resulted in an icy and slick road.

Social media users posted images on Twitter that showed cars T-boned and partially buried in snow along Interstate 64 between Winchester and Mount Sterling. The massive vehicle pile-up after the National Weather Service (NWS) placed 100 million United States residents under weather alerts due to the winter storm systems that would be moving across the region in the following days.

Heavy Winter Weather

The storm on Thursday covered parts of the South with quick-falling snow, freezing rain, and sleet as the system continued down a path through Appalachia and toward the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Authorities expect another snow weather system to move from the Pacific Northwest into the Rockies through Friday. They also anticipate icy conditions to move from the Mid-South into the Northeast.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams was preparing to face his first snowstorm while in office after the NWS reported that a snow system is expected to bring anywhere between three to six inches of snow to the city on Friday, Dailymail reported.

In another incident, Kentucky State Police personnel were working to clear what they said was a more than 20-car pile-up on the Western Kentucky Parkway due to the icy winter conditions. Drivers affected by the incident told CNN that they were stuck in the area for roughly four to five hours where cars moved very little if at all.

In an interview, State Police Public Information Officer Scotty Sharp said that the parkway was closed in both directions near mile marker 131 in Elizabethtown. The official added that the only injuries that were reported at the time were minor non-life-threatening types. Sharp said that the temperature in the area dropped to 20 degrees because of the blanket of snow.

Accidents and Incidents

Sharp added that he was pretty certain that ice was hidden underneath all the snow that made the road quite slippery and dangerous for passing vehicles. In a Facebook post, the Elizabethtown Police Department said that they could not "emphasize" strongly enough that road conditions in the area were very bad and quickly getting worse, CNN reported.

The worsening incident has prompted Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear to declare a state of emergency in the region. The governor's office said that the declaration was due to the heavy snow that began falling on Thursday. Currently, the forecast shows that the snow is expected to continue into the early evening hours.

The governor said that the winter weather in the region has already affected major interstates, resulting in several accidents and pile-ups of vehicles. Many residents also reported experiencing power outages and damage to public infrastructure. Some private properties were also damaged because of the weather system.

In Louiseville, more snow was seen in counties south of the metro, and in Bardstown, residents witnessed around nine inches of snow. A similar situation was seen in Leitchfield where nine inches of snow was reported to have fallen, WLKY reported.