#tricities — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #tricities, aggregated by home.social.
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A #TriCities jury found that a local farm is responsible for causing a dust storm that led to a major crash on I-82 in May 2021 and awarded a driver who lost part of their leg $17 million.
The Tri-City Herald reports that Frank Tiegs LLC and Greenridge Farming were reckless in how they maintained their 68 acre farm located near where Reata Road crosses I-82. This led to significant blowing dust across the freeway repeatedly in May 2021.
A Whatcom County semi driver involved in the wreck had to be airlifted to Harborview in Seattle where a portion of their leg was amputated.
I remember this crash vividly. I was stuck on I-82 for a couple hours while authorities worked to clean up and help people. Had I been driving through five minutes earlier I would have been driving through when the crash happened. I took this photo when I was eventually able to pass through the scene.
Blowing dust is a hazard in the Columbia Basin but proper farm management can help mitigate the risk. When caught in a sudden dust storm, drivers should pull off the travel lanes and turn off their lights. Drivers naturally gravitate to vehicle lights.