Coastal South Carolina is expecting Hurricane Irene to hit in the next few hours. The National Weather Service issued a tropical storm warning for the Lowcountry at noon today, saying that wind and rain should start this afternoon and continue through the weekend. The storm is expected to wreak havoc along the Eastern Seaboard over the next few days.

Not all attention has been on Irene this week. A tour bus accident this past Wednesday brought traffic to a halt along a seven-mile stretch of a northern turnpike.

Officials said the area looked like a war zone. When the vehicles came to a rest, one truck had jackknifed, and the bus was wedged between that truck and the guardrail along the outer lanes of traffic.

The accident occurred just before noon. On the southbound side of the highway, a tractor trailer rear-ended a second truck that had slowed for traffic. The bus then crashed into the trucks.

Of the 55 passengers on board, three suffered critical injuries. The driver, who had been reported dead early on, was airlifted to a nearby medical center in critical condition. Two passengers, also in critical condition, were transported to the same hospital.

Emergency personnel reported that another 14 passengers sustained non-life-threatening injuries, including broken bones, cuts and bruises. Several were apparently in shock.

In the wake of the horrific bus crash in New York earlier this year, regulators stepped up tour bus company inspections. The operator of the bus in this accident has a good safety record, rating in the top 25 percent of companies inspected since 2009.

The driver, too, has a good record. A representative from the American Bus Association said the 52-year-old had been a bus driver for 12 years. The representative added that there was no evidence that the driver was tired. Driver fatigue has been an issue in several recent bus accidents.

Authorities continue to investigate the crash. The ABA representative suggested that it was just an accident -- a terrible accident, but one with no one at fault.

Source: NJ.com, "17 injured in N.J. Turnpike bus crash; 2 critically," Aug. 25, 2011