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| Photo Credit: AMY LYNN NELSON/THE BILLINGS GAZETTE VIA AP |
Six people are reported dead after a dust storm caused a major highway crash in Montana.
The dust storm with 60 mph winds caused a miles-long traffic pileup just three miles west of Hardin, Montana, on Friday evening after a thunderstorm caused a so-called “outflow,” Washington Examiner reports. The outflow means the storm produced surges of wind gusts that can travel faster than the storm itself.
According to
Washington Examiner, weather officials recorded a gust of 40 mph near the Big
Horn County Airport around 4:15 p.m., just 13 minutes before the crash was
reported.
“I’m deeply
saddened by the news of a mass casualty crash near Hardin. Please join me in
prayer to lift up the victims and their loved ones. We’re grateful to our first
responders for their service,” Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte said.
The wind gust reportedly picked up speed in the minutes after the crash with the airport recording a 62 mph gust at 4:35 p.m. and another at 64 mph just before 5 p.m.
Visibility was significantly reduced as a result of the dust to less than
one-fourth of a mile, Washington Examiner quoted meteorologists.
“If they
looked up in the sky while they’re in Hardin, they probably didn’t see much of
what you’d think of for a thunderstorm cloud, maybe not even much at all,” Nick
Vertz, a National Weather Service meteorologist, told the Associated Press. “It
was just a surge of wind that kind of appeared out of nowhere.”
Twenty-one
cars were involved in the crash. The number of casualties is not yet known.