The aftermath of a 100-vehicle pileup in Michigan left motorists in awe.
Footage captured by an eyewitness on the scene shows clusters of damaged cars and semi-trucks on a snowy Interstate 196, about 24 miles southwest of Grand Rapids, and along its shoulder, on Sunday, Jan. 19. Some of the vehicles even fused together upon impact.
“My camera cannot even see,” a man can be heard saying as he describes the disarray left behind by the pileup. “That guy’s had an accident. So, this guy stopped. I stopped. But these guys didn’t stop, could have stopped.”
The man continues to explain how the situation unfolded in real time for a few minutes, noting how despite some of other semi-truck drivers’ best attempts to do avoid hitting him and each other as best they could, some were unable to prevent a collision.
In the midst of explaining the situation, the man spots a vehicle wedged between a few semi-trucks and helps assist the passengers inside of the vehicle.
According to the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office, the pileup began before 10:20 a.m. local time, closing both directions of traffic between Hudsonville and Zeeland, a nearly 10-mile stretch, for several hours.
About 10 people suffered from non-life-threatening injuries as a result of the pileup, the county confirmed to USA TODAY. No deaths were reported in connection with the incident.
Residents in the area were warned by the National Weather Service office in Grand Rapids to avoid travel that day, as “severe snowy weather” and “poor road conditions” were expected to worsen over the course of the day. Snow and ice had been forecast across the Great Lakes as part of an Arctic blast.
Ottawa County Sheriff’s Capt. Jake Sparks shared in a 6 p.m. update that roadway had since re-opened and officials had cleared the scene. The cause of the pileup is under investigation, Sparks said.
Contributing: Cassidey Kavathas, Eduardo Cuevas and Janet Loehrke, USA TODAY

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