11 vehicles involved in 2 wrecks on 1-20 near Lindale Monday afternoon

SMITH COUNTY, Texas (KLTV) - Two wrecks held up traffic for hours on the interstate on Monday afternoon, but no one was seriously injured, according to Texas DPS. "There was a vehicle that was entering on to the entrance ramp from the service road, lost control, they hit a puddle of water and lost control there and an 18-wheeler was coming up behind them and tried to avoid hitting that car that was spinning out of control and subsequently rolled over onto its right side," said DPS Sgt. Adam Albritton. Following that first wreck drivers were stopped, not knowing for how long it'd be. Michael Dubinski was heading to Jackson, Mississippi from the DFW area. "We were actually just driving and we'd seen all the semis slowing up and breaking, so we decided to slow down and break," Dubinski said. "When we'd seen some guys over on the side, it looked like it was trying to clean debris or something out of the road and that's when we heard other people walking up and down that said something happened and we're just sitting here waiting now." Shortly after the 7-car pile up traffic began slowing down and stopping. Soon after that, a second crash happened. "There was an 18-wheeler that was traveling above the eastbound on 20 and wasn't able to stop due to the wet roadways and struck another 18-wheeler truck, tractor trailer, and continued on striking another truck and trailer, a pickup truck and a trailer, as well as another passenger vehicle," Albritton said. Some drivers braving the cold, getting out and checking on one another. Kenneth Haynes was almost involved in the second crash. "The truck next to me, he switched over in that lane over there and I almost hit this truck because we were just trailing each other like that and it all happened just so sudden, all of a sudden it just happened. Come out of nowhere it seemed like," Haynes said. There were no serious injuries from either of these crashes. Drivers were stuck on the interstate for about three hours. As of about 4:15 p.m., both eastbound lanes have reopened on Interstate 20 following two wrecks Monday afternoon. DPS Sgt. Adam Albritton said two wrecks occurred on the interstate. First an 18-wheeler flipped over, and six other vehicles crashed around it, shutting down both eastbound lanes of 1-20. Behind that a secondary wreck happened in the traffic. Two 18 wheelers, a pickup pulling a trailer, and a passenger vehicle all collided when approaching the stopped traffic. Albritton said there were no fatalities and no serious injuries reported. DPS and Smith County officers responded, as well as Lindale Fire Department and EMS. Traffic was diverted at US-69 onto Loop 323 and then to Hwy 271, and then back to 1-20. Both wrecks have been cleared and 1-20 reopened as of about 4:15 p.m., according to Albritton. The wrecks caused about a 3-hour traffic delay.