![]() Illinois’ 22.2 million acres (898,000 hectares) of land in production ranks it 4th in the nation. Department of Agriculture’s 2017 Land Use Practices Census, 29% of Prairie State cropland was no-till. Tilling aerates the soil, controls for weeds and pests and prepares the land for seed germination, but can increase soil erosion - including by the wind.Īccording to the U.S. Illinois ranks 26th among the states in terms of farm fields planted without tillage. “In this case, a lot of fields have been tilled, some have been planted, but the tillage process and even spreading fertilizer will put up a fair amount of dust.” “It just has to dry the top surface, a quarter-inch of soil, and then there’s a huge amount to blow around,” Nafziger said. Much of central Illinois has received little rain in recent weeks, he said, and cropland that is normally wet this time of the year is dry - and with farmers active in their fields, high winds can easily send dust airborne. Meteorologist Chuck Schaffer said the area where the crashes occurred is “very flat, very few trees.”įarmers in central Illinois, including Montgomery County, where the crashes occurred, are tilling fields and planting corn and soybeans, the region’s chief crops, said Emerson Nafziger, a professor emeritus in the Department of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois’ Urbana-Champaign campus. Winds were gusting between 35 and 45 mph (56 and 74 kph), the National Weather Service said. “We have a lot of science that has to be done to see what we can determine,” Kelly said. Those investigators are very early in their inquiry and have a lot of evidence to review and people to interview as part of their probe. More than 40 troopers were sent to the scene, including members of the state police traffic crash reconstruction team, Kelly said. He said they were both adults but would not reveal their genders or other details. One victim was driving a blue Chrysler 300, and the other was in a Hyundai, its color unknown. Two of the six people killed remain unidentified, Kelly said, and state police were seeking tips from the public about their identity. ![]() One of the six people killed was Shirley Harper, 88, of Franklin, Wisconsin, police said. Those hurt in the crash range in age from 2 to 80 and have injuries from minor to life-threatening, police said. “There were just so many cars and semitrucks with so much momentum behind them.” “People tried to slow down, and other people didn’t, and I just got plowed into,” Anderson said. Louis from Chicago.Ĭaught between two semis, Anderson said he believes he was spared serious injury because the truck behind him turned slightly before striking his vehicle. Witnesses described a sudden burst of dirt completely erasing visibility - “It was like a white out, only it was a brown out,” said Evan Anderson, 25, who was returning home to St. The six people who died were all in northbound lanes, while 37 people on both sides of I-55 were taken to hospitals. Monday’s crashes involved 40 to 60 cars, along with tractor-trailers, two of which caught fire, state police said. Noting three memorable dust storms in the same region since 1983, the National Weather Service reported that one, in 1990, resulted in closure of an 18-mile section of Interstate 57. The section reopened later Tuesday afternoon.Įarlier, Kelly had said it was extremely rare to close a highway due to weather except in blizzard conditions. The traffic advisory indicated there had been no accidents but the action was taken as a precaution. ![]() Tuesday, Kelly said, before state police closed the same 20-mile section of road again late Tuesday afternoon as nasty winds continued. Northbound and southbound lanes reopened around 6 a.m. ![]()
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