MAHANOY CITY -- A rig wreck shut down part of Interstate 81 in Schuylkill County and crews responded to numerous other crashes.
A tractor trailer crash on Interstate 81 northbound near Mahanoy City forced state police to close the highway for several hours.
It was foggy and a witness says it all started when the trucker was passing several other rigs on the slush covered road.
No one was seriously hurt including the driver of a car that rammed into the rig.
“He stayed in the left lane. I guess he wanted to pass one more vehicle and the front of the tractor had turned and it began to jack and it thrusted him into the right lane and he just started clipping that guardrail there,” explained witness Sam Galarza.
Galarza says the crash could have been much worse. He says he was almost forced off the interstate.
“I was inches away from that guardrail and I was that way all the way through, and through the grace of God he kept me on my feet and I didn't hit nothing, thank goodness.”
About an hour later, there was another crash. This involved a car in Hometown. Police say it was weather-related. The driver lost control after sliding on ice.
“He looked like a yellow submarine. He kept spinning and he hit the pole here. He’s OK,” explained witness Frank Rutch. “I have two grandsons his age and I think of those two and I hope they have enough sense when it's snowing like this to slow down.”
The storm had other effects on people and places.
Not only were many schools closed because of the snow and ice, the farmers market in Hometown was also closed which is something that rarely happens.