Dust storm closes roads, injures one

COLUMBIA BASIN — High winds combined with blowing dust and sand resulted in the closure of a few Columbia Basin roads and several collisions Wednesday afternoon.

Grant County Sheriff's deputies responded to 10 separate collisions because of the storm in an area five miles north of Warden.

A stretch of Road U SE near Road 5.5 SE was closed for approximately five hours following the accidents, due in part to zero visibility on the road.

GCSO Chief Deputy John Turley said the accidents sent one man to the hospital.

Ronald Heeb, 25, Moses Lake, was transported by ambulance to Samaritan Hospital for a possible broken nose and facial lacerations. According to the GCSO, Heeb also needed surgery to repair a broken leg sustained when his car rear-ended a flatbed trailer.

Heeb was driving a 1990 Plymouth Voyager northbound on Road U SE when he rear-ended the trailer shortly before 3 p.m. The trailer was being pulled by a 2003 Ford pickup driven by 71-year-old James Johnson of Ephrata.

A second driver also collided with the flatbed trailer during the accident, according to the GCSO. Moses Lake resident Ronald Pixton, 25, was not injured in the accident.

During Wednesday's storm, the GCSO responded to two additional collisions, and four incidents where vehicles ran of the road and into ditches because of poor visibility on the road.

The storm also closed a stretch of Highway 26 near Othello Wednesday. According to the Washington State Patrol, zero visibility on the road forced troopers to close Highway 26 from Highway 395 to Highway 17 for 6.5 hours. The WSP said no accidents were reported during the road closure.

— Staff report