Updated at 5:32 p.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Icy roads contributed to numerous collisions yesterday around Lewis County including two serious wrecks that sent local residents to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
A 16-year-old Chehalis boy was transported to the Seattle hospital after a vehicle in which he was a passenger ran into a tree on the 100 block of Brockway Road west of Chehalis. Responders called just before 1 p.m. found five teenagers and a Jeep Cherokee that was totaled, according to the Lewis County Sheriff’s office.
The 16-year-old – who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt – had head and neck injuries, according to the sheriff’s office. Two girls, ages 13 and 15, had minor injuries and a 17-year-old boy was reportedly uninjured, the sheriff’s office reported. All are from Chehalis.
The 16-year-old driver, a Seattle resident, was also uninjured, Chief Civil Deputy Stacy Brown said. He was taken to the Lewis County Juvenile Detention Center for a warrant, driving on a suspended license, taking a motor vehicle without permission and for giving a deputy a false name, according to Brown.
Earlier in the morning, a 31-year-old Toledo woman was flown to Harborview with a broken pelvis after her car slid into a telephone pole on the 700 block of Jackson Highway South near Toledo, according to the sheriff’s office. Her 4-year-old passenger sustained a cut on the forehead and was transported to Providence Centralia Hospital, according to Brown. The car was destroyed in the approximately 8:40 a.m. crash, according to Brown.
Two other accidents attended to by deputies left drivers with no injuries but their vehicles with major damage, according to the sheriff’s office. The first was around 8:15 a.m. on the 200 block of Ingalls Road west of Centralia in which an SUV slid into a ditch onto it side, according to Brown.
At about 8:30 p.m., a deputy responded to a car that ran into a fence on the 300 block of Jackson Highway South, according to Brown.
And finally at about 11 p.m., a 17-year-old Centralia girl driving a pickup truck slid into a ditch and a telephone box on the 4700 block of Galvin Road in Centralia, according to the sheriff’s office. Her truck was described as totaled and her family took her to the hospital, Brown said.
East Lewis County where the residents have seen more snow fared better.
Washington State Patrol Sgt. Darin Foster, supervisor of the Morton detachment, said he didn’t investigate a single collision yesterday.
This morning he found compact snow along U.S. Highway 12 farther east toward White Pass and mostly slush around the Morton area, he said.
“We’ve got lot of skiers going up to White Pass,” Foster said. “We had 24 inches in 24 hours.”
Foster credited the Department of Transportation with doing a good job of keeping the highway cleared, but advised motorists to be cautious.
“Obviously, drive for conditions, slow down and be prepared to slow down,” he said.