A major snowstorm hit most of the East Coast and parts of the South during the first week of January, causing severe pileups on highways and sparking false claims on social media.
A Jan. 6 Facebook image shared more than 5,000 timesin less than a week shows dozens of crashed cars and trucks on a snow-covered highway. The caption says the pileup occurred in Mount Sterling, Kentucky.
Other versions of the post also accrued hundreds of shares within a week.
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But the image is not from Kentucky. It's actually from a 2013 pileup in Pennsylvania.
USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who posted the image for comment.
The Associated Press took the photo now being shared online in 2013, when parts of at least two highways were shut down due to a snowstorm.
The caption of the image says the pileup was at mile marker 286 on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near Reading on Dec. 26, 2013.
The 35-vehicle pileup caused a 4-mile backup. There were no deaths reported.
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Although the image doesn't show a current pileup in Kentucky, several roads in the state experienced hours-long backups and accidents on Jan. 6.
A 50- to 75-vehicle pileup near Mount Sterling, the same location the Facebook image claims to show, caused...
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