Dozens of crashes reported along the I-5 corridor in Oregon reported due snowy roadways and white-out conditions

Thursday morning's wintry storm, stretching from the Oregon coast to Mount Hood and from Eugene into southwest Washington, did more than create white-out conditions and dump half a foot of snow in places:

It also set the stage for a series of traffic crashes along Interstate 5 that closed long stretches of the major north-south throughway.

Fortunately, there have been only minor injuries, said a spokesman for Oregon State Police. But the mostly low-speed crashes, beginning shortly after 8 a.m., overwhelmed responders.

Among the bigger collisions: a weather-related southbound crash involving nearly two dozen vehicles in Albany near milepost 237, a two-vehicle crash that blocked the southbound detour route for that pile-up, another crash along northbound I-5 eight miles south of Albany at milepost 226, a jackknifed semi-truck blocking traffic in Creswell near milepost 183, a crash north of Vancouver at the Battle Ground exit that also closed the highway.

"I can't even begin to count how many crashes we've had," said Mitchell. "There's more cars that have crashed than tow trucks."

That explains why the Oregon Department of Transportation estimated it would take until 2 p.m. to reopen one snowy section of the interstate.

"I'm in Corvallis, where we have 7 or 8 inches of snow and it's the same in Albany," Mitchell said.

Drivers should take extra care as they travel in the frigid, wintry conditions.

"In a white-out, even 20 miles per hour may be too fast for the conditions," he said.

To handle to mushroom of traffic calls, OSP ordered troopers around the region to work.