LUCEDALE, Mississippi (AP) – Two people were killed and at least 10 were injured when their vehicles crashed into a deep hole where a road collapsed after Hurricane Ida erupted in Mississippi.
Torrential rain may have caused the collapse and drivers may not have seen the road in front of them disappear Monday night, Mississippi Highway Patrol Cp. Said Cal Robertson.
“Some of these cars are stacked on top of each other,” he said. Seven vehicles took part, including a motorcycle. A crane was taken to get them out of the hole.
WDSU-TV reports that state soldiers, emergency workers and rescue crews responded to Highway 26 west of Lucedale, about 96 miles northeast of Biloxi, to find collapsed lanes. east and west. Robertson said the hole is 15 to 18 meters long and 6 to 9 meters deep.
The identities and conditions of those involved in the accident have not yet been disclosed.
According to the National Meteorological Service, more than 20 centimeters of rain fell in the area during the Ida.
According to data from the Mississippi Department of Transportation, between 3,100 and 5,700 vehicles travel along the two-lane road in an average day.
Hurricane Ida erupted on Earth on Sunday as a Category 4 storm, one of the most powerful to hit the American mainland. It destroyed power in much of southeastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi, tearing off roofs of buildings and reversing the flow of the Mississippi River.