Witnesses and drivers say a heavy rainstorm contributed to the crash, which sent 20 people to area hospitals in ambulances, including two trauma patients who were flown by helicopter. About 30 more people were checked on the scene for minor injuries.

Officials cautioned to avoid the area, where damaged and undamaged cars are sitting in the roadway as a convoy of tow trucks moves them or clears a path so they can be moved. Transit buses moved some people out of the immediate area.

The northbound lanes are moving, but slowly. Officers are diverting traffic to State Road 70.

The crash occurred after 3 p.m.

Julio Olmedo, 57, was driving a white van with 2 co-workers from Standard Tile, on their way to get their paychecks. “It was confusing, a lot of cars, a lot of rain,” he said.

Olmedo said he could hear the accident, in front and behind him. Then he was in it, when his van was rear-ended by a red truck.

“I think I’m going to die,” Olmedo said. “That’s what I’m thinking.”

Emergency crews were dispatched from neighboring counties to fill-in for all the ambulances dispatched to the pileup.

Sean McCue was driving home to Sarasota after work about 3:15 p.m. when the chain reaction occurred near the county line.

“All this is people not being able to stop,” he said gesturing behind him to the wreckage on the overpass.

A helicopter soared overhead and police sirens roared as McCue waited by his dented-up Hyundai SUV.

FHP troopers said they will not know for some time what started the chain-reaction crash, and promised a press release later this evening that would give updated information.

At the time of the crash, drivers were going slow — about 55 or 60 mph — because of the moderate rain, said driver David Wagle, 57.

He was in the middle lane when he saw a semi truck driver ahead in the left lane lose control, the trailer jackknifing to the right.

The sound that followed was a steady bam, bam, bam.

“For a minute, nonstop, you could hear crash after crash,” said Wagle, who was driving home from his job at the Tampa airport.

Wagle was lucky.

His white Ford truck went in the left ditch, narrowly missing a row of trees.

“My truck doesn’t have a scratch,” he said as around him stranded drivers talked on their phones and workers went from vehicle to vehicle, making sure everyone was OK.

“Every car literally around is smashed.”

For three seconds, Bob Sipkema knew he was doomed.

“I hollered to (wife) Mary, ‘We’re going to crash,'” said Sipkema, of North Port.

There was no time to think or react, and nowhere to go but into the two cars in front of him.

His truck’s windshield was smashed, looking like a spider web. The air bag went off, hurting Mary Sipkema’s ribs that she had broken last year. And the truck filled with smoke.

“I was terrified it was going to explode anytime,” she said.

But their worst fears were not realized, and two hours later, their Chevy Silverado, towing a small John Deere tractor, was still stuck on the interstate.

That’s when the emotions hit.

He choked up, feeling like he hadn’t done enough to protect his wife.

“I’m still shook up about what happened,” he said as the couple stood together. “We’re grateful to be alive.”

A call from their pastor at First Baptist Port Charlotte helped with their stress, too.

They were already on the church prayer list.

EARLIER: Southbound lanes of Interstate 75 are blocked near the University Parkway intersection as the Florida Highway Patrol responds to a multiple vehicle crash.

There are more than 10 people injured in the multi-vehicle crash, including one patient who is being airlifted to Blake Medical Center and two other trauma patients, according to Manatee County Emergency Services.

The crash is on the University Parkway overpass, and involves at least eight cars. FHP troopers are just getting on the scene.

Though the crash itself is on the overpass, the southbound lanes of Interstate 75 remain closed.

More details will come. The southbound lanes were shut down about 3:20 p.m.

DEVELOPING: Southbound lanes of Interstate 75 are blocked near the University Parkway intersection as the Florida Highway Patrol responds to a multiple vehicle crash.

There are more than 10 people injured in the multi-vehicle crash, including one patient who is being airlifted to Blake Medical Center and two other trauma patients, according to Manatee County Emergency Services.

The crash is on the University Parkway overpass, and involves at least eight cars. FHP troopers are just getting on the scene.

Though the crash itself is on the overpass, the southbound lanes of Interstate 75 remain closed.

More details will come. The southbound lanes were shut down about 3:20 p.m.

Check back at heraldtribune.com for more details on this developing story.