Brownouts, winds lead to crashes across Chaves County | Local News

“Please, if you do not have to drive, do not drive in these conditions right now,” Chaves County Sheriff Mike Herrington said in a video posted on the Sheriff’s Office Facebook page at about 3 p.m., while at the scene of a multi-vehicle crash in the area of Orchard Park Road and U.S. 285 south of Roswell.

Chaves County Undersheriff Charles Yslas told the Roswell Daily Record that at least seven vehicles were involved in a pile-up at that location that left at least one person dead and several injured.

Yslas said a call about the crash came into dispatch at about 2 p.m. after a passenger vehicle collided with the back of a tractor-trailer truck.

As a result of that and other accidents, the New Mexico Department of Transportation website said Tuesday that U.S. 285 near mile marker 98, located about three miles south of Midway, was closed.

Yslas added that deputies and first responders began receiving reports of crashes at about noon as the winds amassed strength and visibility decreased.

State Road 2 south into Dexter and Hagerman was cordoned off following several accidents. Yslas said one of them was a four-vehicle pile-up on State Road 2 at Cherokee Road that resulted in minor injuries and heavy vehicle damage. State Road 2 was also closed.

Accidents were reported in the city of Roswell, including a three-vehicle collision on East Mescalero Road between Wilshire Boulevard and Delicado Drive at 3:25 p.m. Information about injuries and damages was not known by press time Tuesday, but Wildermuth said the ambulance called to…