The weekend’s blizzard proved fatal for a Utah woman as she headed home with her fiancé from Wendover early Sunday morning.
Kristina Tree of Sandy, Utah was killed when the driver of the car she was a passenger in lost control and overturned 20 miles east of Wendover on I-80 about 5 am Sunday
According to the Utah Highway Patrol reports the 24 year old Trees was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the vehicle. She later passed away from her injuries.
The driver of the vehicle and Trees fiancé was Ethan Pitts, also of Sandy. Pitts also sustained serious injuries and was taken to hospital in Salt Lake.
The blizzard dumped between 8 inches and more than a foot of snow throughout the region and several stretches of I-80 were closed.
While Trees was the only fatality in the region two crashes blamed on the blizzard closed the Carlin tunnels later that day.
The Carlin crashes involved four semi trucks and five cars according to NHP reports and closed both east and west bound lanes of I-80 for just under an hour.
Three people were hurt, one seriously who had to be life flighted to Salt Lake City.
According to NHP reports the initial accident occurred at about 2:40 p.m. The vehicle tried to stop, but lost control in icy conditions and hit a wall. Four other vehicles reacted and either hit the tunnel walls or rear-ended other vehicles when the drivers couldn’t stop in time, said NHP Sgt. Chris Austin.
“The tunnel was extremely icy,” Austin said.
The weekend storm also all but cutoff Pilot Valley from the rest of civilization. Road access to the tiny Nevada hamlet locate less than 20 miles northwest of Wendover was spotty at best more than a dozen cars were stuck in snow drifts some as high as four feet.
“My husband, Gene, told me it looked like a war zone.” said Pilot artist Betty Ghiggia. “He spent the whole day Tuesday pulling friends and neighbors out with his back hoe.”
This winter has been unusually harsh even for the high desert. Temperatures have risen above freezing just three times since Christmas day and cold related damages to homes and businesses have been estimated to run to the tens of thousands of dollars in the form of frozen pipes and damaged roofs.
This Tuesday the deep freeze finally let up and by Wednesday temperatures ventured above 40 degrees for the first time this year.