The winds hammering East Idaho on Saturday were not only powerful enough to again shut down a long stretch of Interstate 15, but the gusts also hit with enough force to overturn a tractor-trailer.

That incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. Saturday when Alain St. Onge, 62, of Saint-Philippe-de-Neri, Canada, was driving a 2019 Freightliner tractor-trailer southbound on Interstate 15 north of Roberts. The tropical storm-strength winds caused his semi to tip over, state police said. St. Onge's trailer was empty at the time and he was wearing his seat belt but he still suffered injuries.

St. Onge was transported via private vehicle to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, state police said. An update on his condition was not immediately available.

The wreck caused state police to shut down the interstate's southbound lanes in the area of the crash for about three hours while St. Onge's tractor-trailer was removed from the freeway. 

The high winds that toppled St. Onge's semi had already reduced visibility so drastically via blowing dust that state police had shut down Interstate 15 between Idaho Falls and Roberts around 2:30 p.m. Saturday south of the crash scene. The 16-mile stretch of freeway didn't reopen until the dust cleared early Sunday morning.

Powerful winds creating blowing dust had already caused the same stretch of interstate to shut down from Friday afternoon to late Friday night.

Those strong winds continued to hit East Idaho on Saturday.

The weather service issued a wind advisory for East Idaho for Saturday afternoon through Saturday night calling for gusts of up to 50 mph. The weather service said the winds would be powerful enough to make controlling a vehicle difficult and would create blowing dust that could dramatically decrease visibility.

Saturday's semi crash and Interstate 15 closure proved both of those predictions to be correct.

The winds began to intensify Friday morning in East Idaho and continued to hammer the region through Friday night and picked up again on Saturday.

The windy conditions are expected to continue Sunday, so stay with idahostatejournal.com for the latest forecast updates.