5 hurt when semi trucks collide in latest round of Mid-Columbia pileups

People are still sliding around on slick roads as Tri-Cities residents continue digging themselves out from this weekend’s snowstorm.

Already Tuesday morning, a semi slammed into a guard rail as it headed east on Interstate 82 near the Oregon border about 8:20 a.m. The trailer will likely to spend the next couple hours blocking the right lane as troopers work to free it.

That was one of the eight crashes between 5 and 8 a.m., said WSP Trooper Chris Thorson.

Most of them are from people driving too fast on roads still slippery from the snow and ice. Also he warned that there are places where water on the highway is turning into black ice as temperatures drop.

The National Weather Service is predicting a 60 percent chance of freezing rain in Kennewick Tuesday night that may transition into snow during the night, potentially making tonight’s travel just as tricky.

While no one was hurt in Tuesday morning’s crash on Interstate 82, five people were taken to hospitals after two wrecks involving semi-trucks with trailers starting at 3:30 p.m. Monday on Highway 395.

In one crash, Thiha Maung, 46, Merisa Maung, 44, and a 9-year-old ended up going to Lourdes Medical Center in Pasco after their Toyota Corolla was hit by a tractor and trailer just south of Mesa, the Washington State Patrol said. Their condition was not immediately available.

The semi’s driver, Adan Lomeli-Carrillo, 35, of Kennewick, was driving too fast for the slick roads when he lost control, the state patrol said.

Less than an hour later, Steven D. Forth, 46, of Claresholm, Alberta, swerved to avoid a two-semi crash at Highway 395 and drove north in the southbound lanes for three miles, triggering a four semi truck pileup, the state patrol said.

Another semi swerved to avoid Forth, and hit the guardrail, a third semi hit the second truck and a fourth crashed into a Dodge pickup.

The driver of the second truck, Charles H. Van Lear, 55, of Kennewick, went to Lourdes Medical Center, and the driver of the fourth semi, Blane Strong, 57, of North Las Vegas, was taken to Kadlec Regional Medical Center, the state patrol said.

Their conditions are not immediately known.

The crashes caused a backup that lasted for hours along the highway.

Along the threat of avalanches closing Snoqualmie Pass, several rural Benton County roads remain closed as crews continued to plow.. The closures include:

• Clodfelter Road between Ridgeline Road and Locust Grove Road.
  
  
• Finley Road south of Highway 397
  
  
• Lincoln Road at the Prosser city limits
  
  
• Locust Grover Road from Interstate 82 to Sellards Road
  
  
• McBee Road
  
  
• Nine Canyon Road south of Highway 397
  
  
• Plymouth Road between Highway 14 and Sellards Road
  
  
• Sellards Road between Highway 221 and Plymouth Road
  
  
• Ward Gap Road
  
  

This story was originally published February 12, 2019 at 10:03 AM.