[JCE]

I was driving to work one day on I45 south out of downtown Houston, in the left hand lane flowing with traffic. I crested an overpass and there were cars piled up everywhere. I ended up halfway under a van. A total of 17 cars in this pile up.

The cause of this was a family that had a flat and stopped in the left hand lane right on the downslope of the overpass, against the contraflow barrier. People came over the overpass and piled into them. Several cars in front of me the woman of the family was pinned under a car dead, with just the lower portion of her legs sticking out the side. Remember the Wizard of Oz when the house landed on the witch? That is what is looked like. There was also another member of the family dead in the road.

The rest of the family was running around the road crying a freaking out. I jumped up on the contraflow barrier while others crashed around me.

Some things you don't forget too easily.