Multiple Accidents Follow Heavy Rains, Westbound I-84 Closed For Several Hours

By Andrew Gorosko

Following heavy rains during the late afternoon and evening of Sunday, July 15, multiple motor vehicle accidents, which involved at least 15 vehicles overall, occurred on westbound Interstate 84.

The multiple crashes resulted the westbound highway being closed to traffic for several hours until the wrecked vehicles could be cleared away.

Newtown Hook & Ladder Fire Chief Jason Rivera said that 19 Hook & Ladder volunteers responded to a crash involving about seven vehicles that occurred at about 6:30 pm about one-quarter mile east of Exit 9. The crash involved a tractor-trailer truck, a box truck, as well as sedans and SUVs.

The accident occurred after heavy rains, when the roadway was wet, the fire chief said.

One person, a man in his 40s, was transported by ambulance to Danbury Hospital for treatment of minor injuries, Chief Rivera said. No motorist extrications were required, he said.

Firefighters stood by at the accident scene as a wrecker crew carefully worked to remove the tractor-trailer truck from its precariously tilted position on an embankment on the right road shoulder where it had come to rest following the accident, Chief Rivera said. The truck’s cargo of tires did not spill out of the trailer, he said.

Firefighters isolated automotive fluids that spilled from two vehicles involved in that crash, he said.

Firefighters spent about two hours at that incident.

Hawleyville volunteer firefighters also responded to emergency problems on westbound I-84, said Hawleyville Fire Chief Joe Farrell.

State police reports on the I-84 incidents list multiple accidents as having occurred on the westbound highway, west of the Exit 10 interchange.

The accidents typically occurred when vehicles traveling in traffic congestion amid bad weather conditions rear-ended one another.

In some cases, motorists who were seeking to avoid colliding with existing accidents, swerved out of the way, but in doing so created new accidents.

Of the 15 motorists who were involved in the multiple accidents, only three drivers received possible injuries in the collisions, according to state police. Such accidents amid traffic congestion often occur at relatively low speeds.