Arizona Dust Storm May Have Caused 7 Car Wreck

A dust storm is moving through Arizona and may have caused a seven-car wreck on Interstate 10 that injured 13 people.

Hector Vasquez, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, says the dust storm isn’t all that dense and hasn’t caused the agency to issue a dust storm warning because visibility was at between 1 and 5 miles.

Other dust storms this summer have reduced visibility to less than a quarter mile.

The storm began near Tucson and was heading toward Phoenix.

Vasquez says Interstate 10 near Picacho Peak got a “direct hit” from the storm and may have caused an accident that backed up traffic for miles.

The Arizona Daily Star reports that the seven-vehicle wreck included two tractor-trailer rigs, and that dust prevented helicopters from transporting patients for a while.

Five people were taken by ambulance to local hospitals.