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Snowy conditions create widespread havoc on South Dakota roads and Interstates on Thursday.
Two highway patrol cars were hit while responding to emergency calls. And many other crashes kept emergency crews busy.
Vehicles backed up for more than a mile after a semi truck and a green Toyota Prius collided just east of Brandon on Interstate 90.
South Dakota Highway patrol was forced to close the roadway for ten minutes to clear it up. Traffic was diverted at the Garretson exit, but this is just one of many crashes caused by snow that hit just in time for the late morning commute.
"It's slicker than everybody expects, especially with the cautious drivers on top of it, so then they're being cautions and not paying attention to the roads either," Matt Weeg said. "When you start stepping on the break, it gets pretty slippery."
As the snowfall piles up, so do the number of slide offs. The driver of one car couldn't get up the embankment after sliding in the median, so a trooper got behind the wheel to get it back on the road.
And drivers we spoke with say there were several close calls.
"I was in a line of about 20 cars and almost all of them almost rear ended the snow plow in the left lane," Todd Koker said, while driving to Sioux Falls from Madison on I-29.
"The car two cars ahead of us was going about 30 miles per hour and he started to go off the off ramp and changed his mind. The truck behind him slid and then I slid right behind him. I thought we were going to take out the both of them, so it's pretty ugly," Weeg said.
And as the snow is expected to fall through Thursday, South Dakota Highway Patrol Troopers offer a word of warning: slow down and give extra room to emergency vehicles.
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