Salt Lake City, UT : One person dead and at least 25 injuries in multi-car pileup on Interstate 80 near the Utah/Nevada border Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Howling winds wreaked havoc across northern Utah on Tuesday, causing a deadly highway pileup, uprooting trees and briefly halting flights at Salt Lake City's airport as blowing dust and debris clouded the skies.

One person died and 25 others were injured in the crash on Interstate 80 near the Nevada state line, said Sgt. Todd Royce of the Utah Highway Patrol.

The pileup happened after winds kicked up dirt and reduced visibility to almost nothing, causing at least three semitrailers to roll and other cars to crash into them.

The wreck shut down a nearly 100-mile stretch of the major east-west highway in both directions for a couple of hours.

Eastbound lanes were reopened at about 4:45 p.m., with the opposite lanes expected to be reopened later Tuesday night, said Utah Department of Transportation spokesman John Gleason. The closed area stretched from the Nevada border to about 20 miles west of Salt Lake City.

Meanwhile, all flights in and out of Salt Lake City International Airport were put on hold for about 30 minutes in the afternoon.

Airport spokeswoman Barbara Gann said 15 flights were diverted during that time and were later proceeding to Salt Lake City. Because of the interruption and ongoing wind, further delays were expected into the evening, she said.

The gusting winds also uprooted trees, and caused power outages and commuter train delays. The blowing dust and debris brought a fog to most of the Salt Lake City area.

Source :
High winds in Utah cause interstate pileup, 1 killed