A pedestrian narrowly avoided being crushed by an out-of-control car on an icy Seattle hill – one of a series of crashes caused by the monster snowstorm battering the U.S. this weekend.
A ‘once-in-a-generation’ storm across most of the United States was intensifying on Friday as blizzard conditions and hurricane-strength winds grounded thousands of flights and left nearly one-and-a-half million homes without power.
In Seattle, extremely icy conditions have been caused from an arctic blast hitting the Pacific Northwest.
A video in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood shows a car sliding down a hill and hitting a person, but luckily they are knocked away and not crushed as it rolls down the hill.
A pedestrian narrowly avoided being crushed by an out-of-control car on an icy Seattle hill, one of a series of vehicle mishaps that in many cases have proved deadly as much of America is under stormy conditions
A person appears to be trying to walk to the sidewalk when the car suddenly begins to slide, just feet from their prone body.
The person first tries to get in the way of the car and stop it before it hits them and they’re able to deflect away as the car heads down the hill.
First responders got to the scene and found an elderly couple inside the car, who suffered ‘very minor injuries’, according to KOMO.
They had to use ropes and stretchers to get the couple back up the hill to keep from falling on the ice.
A separate video, filmed by a reporter near Judkin’s Park in Seattle, saw two people just narrowly escape being hit by a Range Rover as it flies down the road, completely out of control. Luckily, no one was hurt, according to KIRO.
More than 10,000 flights were also delayed by the weather and the knock-on effect is likely to mean the chaos continues once the storm has passed. Seattle-Tacoma Airport closed its runways indefinitely on Friday morning to de-ice the surfaces.
All bus service was suspended in the greater Seattle area on Friday morning and DoorDash suspended delivery service because of hazardous conditions in parts of several states, including Minnesota and Iowa.
First responders got to the scene and found an elderly couple inside the car, who suffered ‘very minor injuries’
A separate video, filmed by a reporter near Judkin’s Park in Seattle, saw two people just narrowly escape being hit by a Range Rover as it flies down the road, completely out of control.
More than 10,000 flights were also delayed by the weather and the knock-on effect is likely to mean the chaos continues once the storm has passed. Seattle-Tacoma Airport closed its runways indefinitely on Friday morning to de-ice the surfaces
Luckily, despite the crash, no one from this incident was hurt
A 50-car pile-up was reported in Ohio, causing at least four fatalities. The crashes happened Friday afternoon along Interstate 80 eastbound between Route 53 and State Route 4 in Sandusky County, near Groton Township and the Erie County line
Jack-knifed trucks crunched cars, and vehicles skidded into each other as the chaos unfolded. A pick-up truck can be seen to the left, high in the air
One truck, towards the rear of the photo, can be seen forced up into the air in the pile-up. Cars and SUVs were crunched by trucks
The crash was reported on Ohio Turnpike 106 on Friday, amid blizzard conditions. Buses took people from the scene to a local facility to stay warm
Drivers were being warned not to take to the roads – even as the nation reached what is usually its busiest time of year for travel.
In Ohio, four people have died ‘as a result of weather-related auto accidents’ after a 50-vehicle crash along the Ohio Turnpike and several others have been injured, according to Gov. Mike DeWine.
A spokesperson for the state police said the first crash happened at around 11:45 Friday morning, with the massive pileup happening around 12:30 p.m.
They added: ‘This is going to be ongoing for a while. There are a lot of troopers and first responders out there working through this.’
The brutal ‘bomb cyclone’ is ‘gaining strength rapidly’ and threatens temperatures colder than Mars in some Midwest states.
Garrett Fuller, left, helps friend Robin Jacobs get up after slipping to the icy ground on Capitol Hill, Friday in Seattle
A leaf on a Japanese maple tree is surrounded by ice in the backyard of a home in Burien, Washington
The deadly Arctic storm just days before Christmas has threatened the holiday plans of millions of Americans and triggered alerts across the country.
Nearly two thirds of the United States is under a winter weather alert, with snow causing thousands of flight cancelations ahead of the busiest weekend of the year. The latest figures from FlightAware said 3,100 flights were canceled for Friday alone, following the grounding of thousands more on Thursday.
Tens of millions of Americans are bracing for the coldest Christmas in living memory, with cities in Florida, Georgia and Pennsylvania expecting record-breaking lows.
At least ten people died this week in vehicle crashes that authorities said were likely related to the storm in Kentucky, Kansas, Ohio and Oklahoma, with a 50-car pile-up in Ohio and 100 crashes reported just north of the Canadian border, near London, Ontario.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport had 357 flights, or 63% of departures, canceled Friday. The FAA lifted a ground stop there due to snow and ice but late Friday delays were still averaging nearly three hours.
