Update: 2 victims identified in I-96 pileup near Fowlerville
Update at 8:45 a.m.: The final tally of vehicles involved in the Interstate 96 crash near Fowlerville is 53, according to a statement from the Livingston County Sheriff Department.
Authorities identified two of the three people involved as Homer Leon Tew, 69, and Theresa O'Connor Tew, 62. The married couple is from Ann Arbor. Police have been unable to notify the next of kin of the third victim, a 28-year-old man from Hollywood, Florida.
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Three people were killed and 11 injured in a pileup involving up to 40 cars on Interstate 96 in Handy Township, near the Livingston-Ingham county line on Thursday.
The pileup began when snow blanketed the area around 9:50 a.m., causing whiteout conditions. The snow then froze, creating treacherous traveling conditions.
“We have not yet identified the victims,” Lt. Eric Sanborn of the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office said at a 3 p.m. press conference at the county’s EMS building.
“It was very chaotic for them to get to all of the victims to assess the situation,” he added. “The accident is believed to be weather related. Alcohol does not appear to be a factor at this time.”
Sanborn could not confirm what started the chain reaction that led to the pileup, which occurred west of the Fowlerville exit and near Wallace Road.
However, he noted, the people who died were two drivers and a passenger in two separate vehicles. Those vehicles were near the beginning of the pileup, but are not believed to be what started the pileup.
The injured were taken by ambulance to Sparrow Hospital in Lansing and Saint Joseph Mercy Livingston Hospital in Howell with non-life threatening injuries.
Some motorists had to be extricated from the wreckage of their vehicles using the Jaws of Life, while others were extricated with assistance of firefighters.
Other motorists involved in the pileup, but not injured, were taken by Livingston Essential Transportation Services (LETS) to the Fowlerville Police Department and Fowlerville village offices to give statements and be united with their loved ones.
The pileup occurred as a “very thin band of heavy snow” moved through the area, which reduced visibility to about a quarter mile, said Alex Manion, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s White Lake substation.
A temperature drop to 26 degrees with winds gusting up to 21 mph also contributed to the hazardous conditions, Manion said.
The same winter weather led to about 60 crashes or road runoffs across Livingston County, according to 911 Central Dispatch. Of those, only two – not counting the pileup – involved injuries.
Detroit Free Press reporter Kathleen Gray was driving along I-96 between the Williamston and Okemos exits when the roads became hazardous. She said it appeared to have started with “whiteout snow conditions exacerbated by a thin sheet of ice” covering the roadway.
“One semi-truck was jackknifed across most of the lanes of I-96, and that could have been the cause of the domino effect,” she said.
“For me, the most terrifying sounds I’ve ever heard was the sound of semi-truck tires skidding on the ice behind me, and I had nowhere to go because traffic was at a standstill,” Gray said. “Fortunately, he was able to stop before plowing into me.”
The pileup closed both lanes of I-96 between M-59 and M-52. The eastbound lanes were re-opened around 2:50 p.m., but as of 6:15 p.m., the westbound lanes remained closed while accident reconstructionists continued to investigate. Authorities said westbound will remain closed "for several hours."
An estimated 50 to 75 emergency personnel were on scene.
In addition to the sheriff’s office and Livingston EMS, agencies participating included: Michigan State Police, Fowlerville and Howell police, as well as Livingston County and Ingham County sheriff’s office. Also at the scene were firefighters from Fowlerville, Howell, Brighton, Green Oak, Putnam, Meridian Township and Leroy fire departments and NIESA EMS, American Red Cross, Livingston County Emergency Management, LETS, 911 Central Dispatch and the Disaster Assistance Response Team.
Contact Livingston Daily justice reporter Lisa Roose-Church at 517-552-2846 or lrchurch@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @LisaRooseChurch.