A 55-vehicle crash on a icy stretch of Interstate 95 in Baltimore, Maryland left at least two people dead and motorists stranded for hours about 5 a.m. Saturday, according to Chief Roman Clark, a Baltimore Fire Department spokesman. The fiery pileup was one of dozens of crashes in the Baltimore-Washington area as freezing rain slowly accumulated into an icy sheet on roadways in the early morning darkness. Clark said it’s unclear whether the pileup started before the tanker crash or was caused by the incident. A winter weather advisory was in effect for the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., area until noon, according to the National Weather Service, as snow and freezing rain gave way to a wintry mix or rain across much of the Eastern Seaboard. One person was killed in that accident when one of the drivers exited his vehicle and was struck by oncoming traffic. Emergency vehicles descended on the scene, stalling traffic for miles and leading authorities to urge stranded motorists on both sides of the interstate to "remain warm and calm and shelter in place" in their cars, Clark said. At least six people died in Virginia, Maryland and Oklahoma because of the dangerous road conditions, authorities said. In another accident in Baltimore, six people were taken to the hospital after a crash on I-695 involving 15 to 20 vehicles, Baltimore County tweeted. In Nebraska, Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies said one person was killed Friday night when his car slid off an icy road north of Omaha, hit a tree and burst into flames. In northern Virginia, authorities responded to more than 40 traffic accidents, some involving multiple vehicles, according to the state police. In central North Carolina, light freezing rain has caused scores of traffic accidents, adding to the road mayhem scattered throughout the Eastern U.S.

Police and emergency workers reported more than 100 crashes overnight Saturday in Raleigh and Charlotte as the drizzle combined with temperatures below freezing for approaching 40 hours combined to create dangerous icy patches.
Two people are killed and at least 15 are hospitalized following a 55-vehicle accident, involving a gas tanker explosion, on Interstate 95 in Baltimore, Maryland, as cold air causes rain and wet roads to freeze across the Eastern U.S. Three other deaths are reported from other accidents in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area. At least six people have been killed in total on icy roads.