[UPDATED] (Atlantic, IA) – White out conditions and a glaze of ice on the roads caused multiple crashes on Interstate 80 in western Iowa late Sunday afternoon and evening, resulted in injuries and stranded motorists being ferried to shelter in Cass and area Counties. The Iowa State Patrol reports there were 61 crashes covered between 9-a.m. Sunday and 9-p.m. Nine of those accidents involved injuries, and 61 resulted in property damage. There was one fatality accident in Davis County. The Iowa Department of Transportation shut down Interstate 80 between West Des Moines and Council Bluffs, Sunday evening, and would later shut down the Interstate from Altoona eastward to Iowa City. I-35 was also closed between Ames and the Minnesota border.

Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon says emergency services and law enforcement were kept very busy all night long.

Kennon said with the interstate having been closed, a number of vehicles remained in the ditches. He wasn’t sure how many cars and trucks were strewn about the ditches and median, but those motorists needed a place to stay and in some cases, receive medical treatment. The Nishna Valley YMCA in Atlantic was the designated shelter.

Officials in Cass County coordinated rescue services from a number of surrounding towns and counties, to transported multiple persons injured in the I-80 crash.

The YMCA guests were served a hot meal this (Monday) morning. Now, Kennon said, the trick is to get those motorists back to their vehicles once the roads re-open.

The accidents began being reported in Harrison County at around 3:45-p.m., when multiple vehicles piled-up between the 93 and 99 mile markers, Sunday. It wasn’t long after the snow began to fall and the winds began to gust, that the crashes began to occur on I-80 in Pottawattamie County near mile marker 30, and in Cass and Adair Counties, as the storm pushed eastward. An Iowa State Patrol cruiser was struck during one of the accidents. Prior to the statewide shutdown of I-80, the Interstate was blocked westbound near the Marne exit at around 4:45-p.m. due a multi-vehicle injury accident that reportedly included at least one semi. Separate crashes occurred not far from the initial accident site, and on I-80 in Adair County.

Overnight, winds gusted to 55-mph in Atlantic, 58-mph wind gusts were recorded in Spencer, Storm Lake, Algona and Creston yesterday (Sunday). The National Weather Service in Omaha reports a 64-mph gust was recorded near Villisca, Sunday. 61-mph gusts were reported near Council Bluffs and Emerson, and a 56-mph blast of wind occurred at the Harlan Airport.