Police: I-78 crash sent 73 to hospital, involved 64 vehicles

Police release names of 3 killed in I-78 crash during squall

NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on winter weather affecting much of the eastern half of the United States (all times local): 5 p.m. A multi-car collision after a sudden winter squall has shut down a stretch of highway north of Indianapolis. The state Department of Transportation reported a crash involving multiple cars shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday on Interstate 65 in Lebanon. The highway's northbound lanes are closed while emergency crews respond. Boone County Corporal Art Naekel says that poor visibility on the highway led to a 5-vehicle crash that slowed traffic to a standstill, followed by another collision involving dozens of other vehicles. At least 10 people were taken to nearby hospitals with injuries. Other stranded drivers and their passengers were taken to an emergency Red Cross shelter in Lebanon. ___ 3:30 p.m. The nation's capital and northern Virginia are bracing for a winter storm. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser says she fully deployed the DC snow team Sunday ahead of a storm expected to deliver a sloppy mix of snow, sleet and rain. One to several inches is forecast on Monday. Bowser said more than 200 plows are at the ready. They'll target bridges and overpasses, freeways and major routes. Outside DC, the Virginia Department of Transportation says it will begin staging nearly 2,500 trucks to treat and clear roads in Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties. In anticipation of the storm, VDOT crews have been treating ramps, bridges and overpasses. VDOT is urging residents to avoid the roads on Monday and to be mindful of snow-fighting equipment if you must travel. ___ 12:50 p.m. Bitter cold temperatures have caused natural gas outages affecting about 400 residents in Connecticut. Connecticut Natural Gas says customers in Berlin started reporting outages around 4 a.m. Sunday. Officials tell WFSB-TV (http://bit.ly/1XrLbCQ) the outage was caused by a frozen regulator. Crews are hoping to have service restored by the evening. The Berlin Police Department says town officials have opened a warming shelter at a middle school to help affected residents. ___ 12:35 p.m. Forecasters say a winter storm is bringing several inches of snow to parts of Tennessee. The National Weather Service says portions of eastern Tennessee were under a winter storm warning Sunday with up to 6 inches of snow expected before turning to rain. Higher elevations could see greater snowfall amounts. The weather service says some areas could see freezing rain as the precipitation transitions from snow to rain, and heavy rain is possible Monday night. Hazardous driving conditions could develop where snow and ice occur, especially on bridges and highway overpasses. In the Nashville area, about an inch of snow was predicted along Interstate 40 with 2 to 3 inches possible north of I-40. ___ 11:15 a.m. Much of the northeastern United States woke up to record cold on Valentine's Day. The National Weather Service says the temperature in New York City's Central Park on Sunday was minus-1, a record low for the date. The last time it got below zero in Central Park was in January 1994. Boston reached minus-9, breaking the record set in 1934 by 6 degrees. It reached minus-16 in Worcester, Massachusetts, breaking the 1979 record of 11 below zero. Providence, Rhode Island, and Hartford, Connecticut, also tallied record lows. In Montpelier, Vermont, the overnight temperature hit minus-19, tying a record set in 2003. Temperatures were expected to climb before a winter storm already bringing snow to the Midwest moves into the region for the start of the work week.

The Latest: Indianapolis interstate shuts down after pileup