Dust storm kills six in Illinois

At least six people were killed and 30 injured in Monday’s dust storm in Southern Illinois. About 40 to 60 passenger cars and several big-rig trucks crashed along Interstate 55, after 11 AM.

Video footage showed cars and trucks crumpled against one another. A truck was burning.

The dust storm was a spring version of a “whiteout situation” typically seen in winter snowstorms, Illinois State Police Ryan Starrick said.

A “whiteout situation” is a surface weather condition in a snow-covered area, in which no objects casts a shadow, the horizon cannot be seen, and only dark objects are discernible.