Crime & Safety

CRASH COURSE: Numerous Wrecks on Slippery I-10 As Storm Pounds Pass

From Beaumont and Banning to just east of Cabazon, more than 10 crashes were reported by 1 a.m. The wrecks included several rollovers, according to the CHP.

Wind and rain combined to make freeway driving treacherous in the San Gorgonio Pass late Friday and early Saturday, as more than 10 crashes were reported on and near Interstate 10 from Beaumont and Banning to just east of Cabazon.

The crashes between 6 p.m. Friday and 2 a.m. Saturday included several rollovers, but most of them were non-injury or minor-injury incidents, a California Highway Patrol dispatcher said early Saturday in a telephone interview.

"We've had at least a dozen since it started raining hard," she said. "It's always like this when it rains hard in the pass."

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At 1:20 a.m. a vehicle spun out and struck a center divider on the eastbound 10 near Casino Morongo, according to the CHP.

Between 12:05 a.m. and 12:30 a.m., paramedics and tow truck crews responded to two different crashes near the Railroad Avenue and Haugen-Lehmann Way ramps to I-10. One of the two crashes was a rollover in which no serious injuries were reported.

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Just before midnight Friday a vehicle spun out on I-10 and struck a center divider just east of the interchange with Highway 111, and another vehicle ended up in a ditch in the same area, according to the CHP.

There were also at least five different crashes reported on the westbound 10 in Banning Friday night, including one rollover that paramedics and a flatbed tow truck responded to.

In Beaumont, two separate crashes were reported at 9:26 p.m. on the westbound 10 at Oak Valley Parkway and at 9:46 p.m. at the offramp, according to the CHP.

Just west of Beaumont on the eastbound 10, a pickup truck overturned near Cherry Valley Boulevard.

At 10:22 p.m. a motorist lost control on the westbound 10 and ended up facing the wrong in the center divider just west of the interchange with state Route 60.

, due to what the National Weather Service called a "strong winter storm system," were expected to continue through at least noon Saturday.

A flash flood watch issued by the Weather Service was in effect until Saturday afternoon. A winter storm warning was in effect until 4 p.m. Sunday in the mountains above 4,500 feet on both sides of the Pass.

Snow levelswere expected to drop to 4,000 feet by Saturday morning and possibly as low as 3,500 feet, according to the Weather Service.

Up to 6 inches of snow were possible below 5,000 feet, 6 to 12 inches from 5,000 to 6,500 feet, and 12 inches to 2 feet of snow were possible above 6,500 feet.

Chain restrictions went into effect Friday night on Highway 243 above Banning to the junction with state Route 74 in Mountain Center, according to Caltrans.


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