A winter storm bringing icy roads saw drivers across Grays Harbor County wracked by collisions.
Many of the crashes were single-vehicle incidents, said Chief Criminal Deputy Kevin Schrader of the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office.
“We’ve responded to several collisions throughout the county, on state highways as well as county roadways,” Schrader said. “It’s pretty slick out there.”
Schrader said the department had received five calls as of lunchtime Thursday.
“Most people are driving pretty safe and cautious but the roads are very slick,” Schrader said. “A lot of them are vehicles off the roadway — losing traction and spinning off the roadway.”
The Washington State Patrol clocked 34 collisions between 8 p.m. on Wednesday and noon on Thursday, said Trooper Katherine Weatherwax in an email. Many of those cases were instances where cars ended up in ditches with only minor damage, Weatherwax said.
House strike
A notable crash occurred in South Aberdeen, said Cmdr. Steve Timmons of the Aberdeen Police Department.
“At 9:50 this morning, a Jeep Liberty was going northbound and it lost control. It struck the front driver’s side of a semi going south,” Timmons said in a phone interview. “The vehicle struck the semi with enough force to push it toward the house.”
The semi went off the road, running into the corner of a residence on the 900 block of South West Boulevard, Timmons said.
“The semi struck the house with enough force to push it off the foundations,” Timmons said.
The room was unoccupied and the residents of the house were uninjured, Timmons said. The driver of the Jeep Liberty, an 18-year-old male, was evaluated and cleared of injuries at the scene, Timmons said. Notably icy conditions led to the crash, Timmons said.
Aberdeen has been largely crash-free besides this incident, Timmons said.
“Fortunately we haven’t had a lot of accidents,” Timmons said. “We’ve been pretty fortunate so far. It seems like everyone’s been driving with caution.”
Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@thedailyworld.com.