A wall of blowing dust cut visibility to near zero on State Route 397 south of Kennewick Friday afternoon, touching off a chain-reaction crash that killed a West Richland couple and injured several other drivers.
The Washington State Patrol says the wreck began around 1:51 p.m. near milepost 3, when 84-year-old Radphord L. Howard Sr. was driving his 2021 Toyota RAV4 and crossed into oncoming traffic, striking a southbound Peterbilt tractor-trailer head-on. Howard and his passenger, 81-year-old Diana L. Howard, both of West Richland, were pronounced dead at the scene, according to KXLY and AppleValleyNewsNow, which identified the victims.
The semi driver, 68-year-old Ricardo Saenz of Kennewick, was not injured, WSP told the Tri-City Herald. Investigators do not suspect drugs or alcohol played a role, and the cause of the initial crossover remains under investigation.
A dust wall, then a dozen more cars
The initial head-on collision set off a much larger pileup as more vehicles arrived at the crash site blind in the dust. Benton County Fire District No. 1 says 12 vehicles were involved, including two semi-trucks, one of which was hauling hazardous material, according to Elkhorn Media Group. No hazardous substances leaked. The Tri-City Herald's count, via MSN, puts the total closer to 15 vehicles — a discrepancy that hasn't yet been resolved in WSP's final report.
Emergency crews from Benton County Fire District No. 1 responded to the scene west of South Olympia Street, just outside Kennewick city limits, around 2 p.m. Troopers closed SR 397 between Nine Canyon Road and Interstate 82 for hours while crews cleared the wreckage, with no access available at Olympia Street, Elkhorn reported. It's not yet clear how badly the other drivers caught in the pileup were hurt; no outlet has detailed their conditions.
Why this stretch of highway is a dust corridor
SR 397 climbs out of the Horse Heaven Hills before dropping into Kennewick, running along an exposed, largely treeless ridge through dryland wheat country, according to Wikipedia's route description. With little windbreak and loose farmland soil, the corridor is a known trouble spot for sudden, blinding dust events whenever wind gusts pick up, especially in late summer and fall after harvest strips fields bare.
Friday's storm fits that pattern. Drivers who use 397 or nearby U.S. 395 should treat a sudden dust wall as a signal to slow down immediately, turn on hazard lights and, if visibility drops to zero, pull as far off the roadway as possible rather than stopping in a travel lane — a common cause of chain-reaction pileups in blowing dust. No agency has announced new warning signage or speed restrictions for this stretch of SR 397.
What happens next is up to WSP's ongoing investigation, which will produce a final collision report reconciling the vehicle count and detailing what led Howard's SUV across the centerline. Neither WSDOT nor Benton County has said whether the crash will prompt any changes to signage, speed limits or closure protocols for the corridor.
