MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The Latest on the winter storm that’s created treacherous travel conditions (all times local):
4:15 p.m.
Authorities have identified the driver of a pickup truck who was killed in North Dakota in the midst of a major winter storm that rolled through the Upper Midwest.
The Highway Patrol says the vehicles crashed on a highway in Dunn County, in northwestern North Dakota, when visibility was reduced by blowing snow from a plow.
Thirty-seven-year-old Jared Maturin, of Jeanerette, Louisiana, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver and three passengers in the other vehicle were not hurt.
The Minnesota Highway Patrol has reported 103 crashes in the storm, resulting in injuries to 12 people.
4 p.m.
The North Dakota Highway Patrol is urging drivers to be cautious around snowplows working to clear highways after multiple crashes this week, including at least one fatal wreck.
The Friday message urging caution comes as a major winter storm has left roads snow covered and slippery in the Upper Midwest. The Highway Patrol says it investigated five crashes involving snowplows in an eight-hour time frame Wednesday.
A Thursday crash in western North Dakota left a driver dead.
The Highway Patrol is also encouraging drivers to slow down when approaching emergency vehicles with lights flashing. Officials say a trooper’s vehicle was hit Friday by a driver while parked on the shoulder of I-94 in Fargo.
Officials say the driver lost control and sideswiped the patrol vehicle; the driver and trooper weren’t injured. Shortly after, two more vehicles crashed and three others spun out in the same area.
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9:40 a.m.
A major winter storm that has left roads snow covered and slippery in the Upper Midwest is blamed for at least three fatal crashes.
The latest happened in central Minnesota’s Crow Wing County where a pedestrian was struck on a road by a pickup with a plow blade. Sheriff’s officials say road conditions and visibility were very poor at the time of the accident which occurred about 8:30 p.m. Thursday. The victim is identified as 51-year-old Michael Donnay, of Merrifield, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
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7:20 a.m.
A major winter storm that has left roads snow covered and slippery in the Upper Midwest is blamed for at least two fatal crashes.
In North Dakota, the driver of a pickup truck was killed when he collided with another vehicle on a snow-covered highway in Dunn County Thursday. The Highway Patrol says the vehicles crashed when visibility was reduced by blowing snow from a plow. The driver and three passengers in the other vehicle were not hurt.
In Minnesota, a collision between a small bus and an SUV in Sherburne County is blamed on slippery road conditions. A 47-year-old female passenger on the bus was killed. Eight others on the bus and the SUV driver were injured.
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5:45 a.m.
A powerful winter storm that has left roads snow covered and slippery in parts of the Upper Midwest is blamed for a Minnesota crash that killed one person and injured nine others.
Sherburne County sheriff’s officials say a small bus collided with an SUV on a road east of Big Lake about 3 p.m. Thursday. Forty-seven-year-old Marilyn Balogi, of Zimmerman, was killed. She was a passenger on the bus. Seven other bus passengers as well as the bus driver and the SUV driver were injured and taken to area hospitals.
The Minnesota State Patrol says it responded to 167 crashes, 259 spinouts and 13 jackknifed semis on Thursday. A blizzard warning issued by the National Weather Service remained in effect for much of the Dakotas and part of Minnesota through Friday morning.
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