Crashes follow first rain after long dry spell

At least two people rolled their cars Wednesday on sharp turns made slick with oil and rainfall. It was the first rain after a long span of dry weather.

Clark County Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief Tim Dawdy said crews in his district responded to two crashes back-to-back before noon.

“It’s the first day of rain after a very long spell. Of course the roads are slippery, the oil’s coming up,” he said. “The radio’s been hopping today with this kind of thing going on.”

Firefighters responded to a rollover at South Dolan Road and Fifth Street in Ridgefield at 11 a.m., then to a rollover near Daybreak Regional Park in Battle Ground at 11:28 a.m.

In both crashes, the vehicles rolled after sliding off the roadway when they attempted to make a sharp turn.

“Fortunately, people were using seat belts in both cases, and no one was seriously injured,” Dawdy said.

These kinds of crashes happen with every first rain following a dry spell, he said, and drivers need to keep that in mind; the fresh rain mixes with oil from vehicles and asphalt, resulting in a slippery roadway.

“The second thing is, and this is super important, school just started,” he said. “All those school zones that we’ve been ignoring all summer long are just alive again with little ones.”