Truck driver survives 70-foot plunge off an icy roadway as freezing weather snarls traffic across Midwest
A driver survived a 70-foot plunge off of a roadway Saturday and a Wisconsin Department of Transportation traffic camera recorded the dramatic scene.
The incident is just one of many that have occurred across the Midwest where snow, sub-zero temperatures and freezing rain have created dangerous, icy roadway conditions.
More than 41 million people remain under winter weather alerts that stretch from Oklahoma to Cape Cod, according to CNN Meteorologist Michael Guy.
Icy weather creates dangerous road conditions
Deputies with the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) responded to the one-car crash at around 9:49 a.m. on Saturday in the westbound distress lane on Interstate 94, the sheriff’s office said in a series of tweets.
When the deputies arrived, they found the red pickup truck that had skidded off the ramp sitting upright in the roadway below.
The driver had lost control of his vehicle as he was driving on the interchange ramp, according to MCSO.
“The vehicle traveled up a snowbank, proceeded over the barrier wall, and descended 70 feet down onto the westbound I-94 distress lane,” the sheriff’s office said.
The driver was conscious, breathing and did not show signs of impairment, according to the sheriff’s office. He was taken to a local hospital by the Milwaukee Fire Department.
In Oklahoma, freezing rain created icy roadways leading to more than 380 car crashes in the state by 5 p.m. Monday, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol/Department of Public Safety (OHP/DPS).
Early Monday morning, Oklahoma City Police warned in a tweet that cold temperatures had frozen over bridges, causing several crashes.
Two people died and people suffered injuries in at least 130 of the incidents Oklahoma State Troopers responded to, according to the tweet.
At least 20 cars were caught in a pile up on I-40, the main thruway of Oklahoma City, Monday, OHP Trooper Eric Foster said during a press briefing Monday.
Foster said that an unknown number of people were injured during multiple collisions along an icy bridge.
