Illinois State Police say that Interstate 39 between Normal and Minonk will remain closed for approximately 12 hours after multiple crashes involving more than 100 vehicles were reported on the roadway. The pileup came as a sprawling storm system brought a wide range of weather hazards to the eastern half of the nation Thursday into the first half of Friday, with many areas in the central and eastern United States under threat of severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, heavy snow and flooding. More than 200,000 homes were still without power across the Northeast states on Friday morning, amid howling winds of 40 to 60 mph. Several other area highways were experiencing significant issues, including I-74 eastbound near Champaign which was completely blocked for a while after a crash involving several jack-knifed semitrailers, police said. Illinois pileup with 100+ vehicles shuts down I-39 for hours amid winter storm (fox6now.com)
