10-vehicle pileup and fatal crash closes QEII near Blackfalds: RCMP

The first significant snowfall of the season has wreaked havoc on roads across Alberta, where a stretch of the busiest highway in the province was closed Monday evening due to a large pileup and a fatal crash.

The fatality happened around 5:30 p.m. RCMP said officers out of Ponoka responded to a the crash on the northbound lane of Highway 2, near Township Road 400, in Lacombe County.

An update Tuesday said the preliminary investigation indicates a semi tractor trailer was headed southbound on the QEII when it hit the median ditch and went through the cable barrier, entering the northbound lanes. There, the semi colliding head-on with a northbound pickup truck.

The 57-year-old man driving the smaller truck, a resident of Joffre in central Alberta, was pronounced dead on scene.

Around the same time Monday night just down the highway, Ponoka RCMP were dealing with a 10-vehicle pile up on Highway 2 southbound, near Township Road 392.

The southbound lanes of the QEII, south of junction Highway 597 near Blackfalds, were closed around 6 p.m.

No serious injuries were reported and the collision is attributed to poor winter road conditions, police said.

All southbound traffic on the QEII north of Red Deer were stopped for several hours. Vehicles trying to go south on the major highway were re-routed to Highway 597 to and Highway 2A.

Monday saw the first snowfall of the season for much of central and southern Alberta, leading to hundreds of collisions across the province.

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Special weather statements and snowfall warnings were issued for central and southern Alberta by Environment Canada.

The national weather agency said the Red Deer area could expect to receive heavy snowfall Monday night into Tuesday morning, with total amounts of 10 to 15 cm.

RCMP requested drivers take an alternate route or wait until road conditions improve.