Dense fog triggered a massive pile-up of motorists on Highway 99 in California’s Central Valley over the weekend, according to the California Highway Patrol and multiple media reports.
Officers responded to State Route 99 near Avenue 24, an area just north of Delano in Tulare County about 34 miles from Bakersfield, just before 8:30 a.m. after receiving multiple calls about the crash, KTLA’s sister station KSEE/KGPE reported.
Authorities said that visibility in the area was only 100 to 200 feet on sections of the roadway.
CHP Officer Adrian Gonzalez, according to SFGATE, said that arriving units “found carnage out there,” and that cars and trucks were “turned over and up on each other, under each other.”
Tulare County officials initially estimated that some 150 vehicles were involved in the crash, though CHP later revised the number down to 59.
Officials with CHP said 10 people suffered “minor to moderate injuries” in a 59-vehicle pile-up on Highway 99 in Tulare County on Jan. 31, 2026. (CHP)
Officials with CHP said 10 people suffered “minor to moderate injuries” in a 59-vehicle pile-up on Highway 99 in Tulare County on Jan. 31, 2026. (Tulare County)
Officials with CHP said 10 people suffered “minor to moderate injuries” in a 59-vehicle pile-up on Highway 99 in Tulare County on Jan. 31, 2026. (Tulare County)
Officials with CHP said 10 people suffered “minor to moderate injuries” in a 59-vehicle pile-up on Highway 99 in Tulare County on Jan. 31, 2026. (Tulare County)
Images of the crash, which prompted a six-hour closure of north and southbound lanes, showed several big rigs involved in the pile-up and other vehicles sustaining severe damage that left some of them looking unrecognizable.
Despite the intense chain-reaction crash, only 10 people were taken to the hospital with “minor to moderate injuries,” CHP said.
Authorities urged motorists traveling in the area to slow down and not rely on their vehicles’ automatic headlights, instead saying drivers should make sure to manually turn on their headlights so others on the roadway could see them.
While the fog thinned out around noon on Sunday, officials at the National Weather Service cautioned that the dense fog “would continue to occur each morning through early this week,” creating risky driving conditions in San Joaquin Valley area.
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