Underground Wildfire Smoke Engulfs New Orleans Highway, Causing Deadly Accident Amid Severe Drought

Smoke from ongoing underground wildfires cause visibility issues, leading to fatal multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 10 in New Orleans; conditions expected to persist until incoming cold front on Friday.

An underground wildfire, coupled with severe drought conditions in Louisiana, is causing dense smoke and leading to fatal crashes on Interstate 10 in New Orleans.
The smoke, which took on a dense fog-like quality, completely enveloped the highway, leading to virtually zero visibility for motorists.
The wildfire is currently burning in the forested wetlands between Bayou Sauvage National Urban Wildlife Refuge and the Michoud Canal and does not pose a threat to commercial or residential structures.
The accident caused by the smoke led to the death of one person and involved multiple vehicles, closing the highway for several hours.
The smoky conditions may persist until Friday when a cold front is set to move into the area, which might shift the smoke towards the city itself.
This situation evokes recent memory of a 'super fog' caused by smoke from marsh fires mixing with dense fog, which resulted in a deadly pile-up of 158 cars on Interstate 55.