Strong Wind Gusts Topple 2 Trucks in Virginia

Wind gusts were not kind to motorists on Interstate 77 in Carroll County, Virginia.

Tuesday 2 trucks were knocked over in less than an hour of each other, both falling right around mile marker 3.

Both trucks were carrying light or no loads, which helped them give way to the high winds. The second trailer to fall landed on top of a VDOT Safety Patrol truck that was already on scene.

“The VDOT worker was inside the truck, but he was not injured,” Virginia State Police 1st Sgt. Mike Musser said. “Both the driver of the tractor trailer and VDOT truck were uninjured. After it turned over and we got a grip on it, we were able to move the VDOT truck off to the side. A wrecker was in the process of hooking up to the JNJ truck when winds caught the trailer of the J&J truck and caused it to slide about 30 feet and strike the side of (a Virginia State Police) car.”

The wind-aided accidents occurred around 3 p.m. and the road was not able to be re-opened until about 10 p.m.

“We estimated wind gusts at 100 miles per hour at the height of it,” Musser said. “It was just in that three-tenths-of-a-mile section of road from mile marker 2.7 to the 3 at the weather station where this occurred. We saw several other trucks that rocked over on their wheels, but didn’t turn over.”

Source: The Carroll News, Fox 8 WGHP