4 Killed in Raging S.California Sandstorms
Pastor Dale Morgan
4 Killed in Raging S.California Sandstorms*
By GILLIAN FLACCUS,
Associated Press Writer AP
LANCASTER, Calif. - Wind advisories were extended Wednesday following
blinding sandstorms that helped trigger several car pileups north of Los
Angeles that killed at least four people and injured dozens of others,
authorities said.
The sandstorms struck Tuesday as wind gusted to 55 mph in the arid high
desert.
Advisories warning of gusts up to 50 mph were extended through late
Wednesday, and more strong wind was likely in the area from late
Thursday into Friday, the National Weather Service said.
Strong winds and zero visibility Wednesday forced the closure of a
stretch of state Highway 58, site of two fatal crashes Tuesday.
The largest crash scattered vehicles across state Highway 14 just west
of Edwards Air Force Base on the northern edge of Los Angeles County.
Two people were killed and 25 were taken to hospitals, two of them in
critical condition, Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Ron Haralson said.
At least 19 vehicles were involved in five separate collisions on a
mile-long stretch of Highway 14, California Highway Patrol Lt. Andria
Witmer said. The crashes were still being investigated, but authorities
said poor visibility and high wind played roles.
"It was just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom for 10 or 15 minutes," Gary
Goerges, a Northern California motorist passing through, told the
Antelope Valley Press.
Nearby at the town of Mojave, two people were killed and eight were
injured in separate accidents about 1,000 yards apart along state
Highway 58, CHP Lt. Dana Leach said. About six vehicles were involved in
the crashes.
Like the rest of California, the Antelope Valley has been bone-dry this
year, receiving less than 2 inches of rain.
"It's not unheard of for the area to experience a dust storm, but it's
not an everyday type of thing," said meteorologist Jaime Meier in the
weather service's Oxnard office.
The Highway 14 accidents occurred about 40 miles northeast of the
Interstate 5 tunnel where a blazing truck pileup killed three people
Friday night in Santa Clarita.
The cause of that crash, which killed three people and injured 10, was
still under investigation. Authorities said it involved 31 vehicles,
including one passenger car and dozens of tractor-trailer rigs.