KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Highway Patrol said troopers responded to more than 240 crashes in the Knoxville district between Jan. 15 and the morning of Jan. 19. During that time, a winter storm covered roads in a thick glaze of ice and dumped several inches of snow in the Knoxville area. It also brought temperatures dangerously low, making it difficult for crews to treat the roads.
Of those crashes, THP said 195 calls involving property damage. It said people were injured in 46 of them.
Eleven crashes were reported in Campbell County and several involved tractor-trailers, according to THP. Several others were reported in Roane County, including one in which a tractor-trailer blocked the interstate for several hours.
That crash was reported on Jan. 18 at around 9:16 p.m., and no injuries were reported in it. THP said a tractor-trailer jackknifed and hit another car before hitting a third car, eventually coming to a stop in the roadway.
Another crash in Loudon County was reported at around the same time. THP said in that crash, a semi-truck and a car hit black ice, and the semi-truck changed and lost control, hitting the car. The semi-truck went off the road into the median, and the trailer separated, rolling over across the median. Meanwhile, the tractor-trailer's cab continued into oncoming traffic before stopping in the shoulder.
Several other crashes were reported in Monroe County, according to THP, near Sweetwater. It said several drivers needed help during the night of Jan. 18, when a wave of freezing rain moved into East Tennessee and covered roads in ice.