NORTHERN WISCONSIN DIGS OUT
Tuesday, March 14th, 2006 -- 8:44 AM
Our listening area ? mostly the northern portions of our listening area ? got walloped with a mid-March storm that had fatal consequences for a Dorchester man.Gabriel Avila Gabriel, 21, died after a one vehicle-two semi crash that occurred on STH 13 about 3 miles north of Abbotsford. The accident was reported at around 11:30 a.m. yesterday, as a heavy, slushy snow pelted the northeastern corner of the county.
The preliminary investigation shows Gabriel was northbound as a semi tractor was southbound. He lost control striking the semi tractor unit. The automobile was then thrown into the path of a northbound semi tractor-trailer, which collided nearly head on with Gabriel's vehicle.
STH 13 was closed for more than 4 hours due to the severity of the crash, officials say.
That was not the only accident yesterday. As of 2 p.m. Chief Deputy Jim Backus of the Clark County Sheriff?s Department said there were over a dozen accidents reported in the northern half of the county with more coming in.
The National Weather Service in La Crosse says snow totals ranged from an inch or two in the southern parts of our listening area, up to almost a foot of snow in northern Clark County. The heaviest snow fell farther north and west, where parts of Barron County reported 23-inches of new snow.
Perhaps the worst driving conditions were found in Saint Croix County, where highway commissioner Tim Ramberg said hundreds of people were stuck on Interstate 94 yesterday morning. Among those stranded on the highway were the road plow crews.
"Folks are in the ditch or stopped right in the road, so we couldn't get to where we needed to go either," Ramberg says. "State Patrol was calling to get us to a certain spot where they had issues, and we couldn't get to them."
There were hundreds of vehicles in the ditches in Barron County, according to Barron County Sheriff Tom Richie.
A big transmission line in rural Saint Croix County fell down due to heavy wet snow and ice.
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