‘Perfect recipe for disaster’ creates chain of six crashes on I-5 in Ferndale
Heavy rain and congestion from other Whatcom County road closures are believed to have caused a series of six crashes all at about the same time that backed up northbound traffic on Interstate 5 Wednesday evening in Ferndale.
Nine people suffered injuries in the crashes, but none were considered serious, as all nine people were either treated at the scene or transported with basic life support services, Washington State Patrol Trooper Heather Axtman told The Bellingham Herald. Axtman said she was checking the numerous reports to determine the exact number of cars that were involved, but social media reports at the time said that number was more than 10.
“We don’t know the exact cause of all the crashes,” Axtman said. “But we know there was heavy rain at the time, and some roads, such as Slater, were closed, and that pushes a lot more people to I-5. With all that going on, it was the perfect recipe for disaster.”
Slater Road was closed at the time because of rising water levels on the Nooksack River.
The crashes began at approximately 4:54 p.m. Jan. 8 with a collision between a car and a semi-truck near the bridge over the Nooksack River. Initially, that crash was thought to be a hit-and-run, Axtman said, but that turned out not to be the case.
“Shortly after that, it was just crash after crash in that same area at the same exact time,” Axtman told The Herald. “It was like six different collisions, each involving two or three vehicles.”
The crashes initially blocked both lanes, the Washington State Department of Transportation tweeted. A follow-up tweet a few minutes later said only the right lane was blocked, but other social media posts reported traffic backed up all the way to the Bakerview exit in Bellingham.
This story will be updated.
