On interstate 55 near New Orleans, “super fog’’ caused a multi-car pile up. The super fog caused visibility to be lowered, according to police. The crash occurred on the morning of Monday, October 23 due to heavy fog conditions involving at least 158 vehicles.

A long stretch of interstate 55, a 24 mile long highway over Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans, is expected to be closed for the “foreseeable future” police said. Interstate 10 and Interstate 310 were also closed as a result of the crash. John Bel Edwards, Louisiana Governor, confirmed the accidents in a statement Monday.

According to the New York Times, seven were pronounced dead and twenty-five were transferred to the area hospitals with varying injuries on Monday. By Tuesday night, the number of injured more than doubled. For hours after the crash emergency crews worked to clean the debris from both northbound and southbound lanes. Shortly after the initial accident a portion of the crash scene caught fire.

The super fog was caused by a deadly combination of smoke from marsh fires burning in the region combined with dense fog. In some spots visibility was near zero, creating extremely dangerous driving conditions.

 The National Weather Service had been warning of the threat of dense fog in the region. State police in Louisiana cautioned drivers to use their low-beam headlights. ABC News explains, “morning fog is not uncommon this time of the year in the region, but more than 86% of the state is currently battling extreme drought conditions, which is elevating fire danger” in Louisiana. 

“The combination of wildfire smoke and dense fog is dangerous, and I want to encourage all Louisianans in affected areas to take extreme caution when traveling,” Edwards said in a statement to ABC News. 

Although super fog can not be linked directly to climate change, with increased fires and smoke in the atmosphere, it is possible that we will see more dangerous super fog climate events in the future.