The tractor-trailer that former Butler Mayor Tom Donaldson was driving Wednesday was totaled, and he suffered cuts on his hands from the glass of his shattered windshield in a fatal multiple-vehicle pileup on Interstate 80 in Union County.

“I banged up my truck, but I managed to skinny down and get out of it,” Donaldson said.

A commercial truck driver who hauls mail for the U.S. Postal Service, Donaldson said he was on his way back to Butler County after exchanging one trailer full of mail for another in Scranton when he came upon a whiteout and many crashed vehicles.

At least 20 vehicles traveling in both directions were involved in the accident and at least one person was reportedly killed.

The crashes occurred around 1:30 p.m. between exit 199 at Mile Run and exit 210 at Williamsport.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said I-80 is closed for more than 30 miles in both directions between the Lock Haven exit in Clinton County and the Williamsport exit in Northumberland County due the crash. It was not know as of Wednesday evening when the highway would reopen.

“It was a total whiteout,” Donaldson said. “Then all of the sudden there was a truck across the road and there was a lot of cars in front of me. I stopped, but I got hit four or five times in the rear end,” Donaldson said.

He said he heard other vehicle crashing behind his rig and one vehicle traveled partially through the trailer he was pulling.

“It's one of the scariest things that ever happened to me. I kept hearing thumps behind me. One truck went partially through my trailer. All I can say is, thank the good Lord,” Donaldson said.

He said the dashboard of the truck he was driving “rolled” in and partially pinned him inside, but he managed to squeeze out of the truck and help other motorists who were caught up the crash.

“I got my hands cut up pretty bad from the glass from the windshield,” Donaldson said. He said he was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Lewisburg, where he was treated.

Family members drove there to pick him up and bring him home.

He said it was his first accident in 41 years of truck driving.

Tom Donaldson