( CNN ) -- Three people died Tuesday when a sweeping dust storm impaired visibility on a major interstate in Arizona and caused a chain-reaction of car accidents , according to the state 's Department of Public Safety . Between 30 and 40 vehicles were involved in the Interstate 10 accidents , which also seriously injured five people , Officer Robert Bailey told CNN 's sister network HLN . A total of 14 people were hurt , DPS spokesman Harold Sanders told CNN . The collisions started fires , and many of the injured suffered burns , Bailey said . Officials were asking motorists to avoid the affected stretch of I-10 , near Casa Grande , Arizona , and south of Phoenix . The scene was a horrific sight even after fires were extinguished , Bailey said . Tow trucks were on the way to clear the road late Tuesday morning . `` There 's still a lot of carnage and mess out here , '' Bailey said . iReport : Photos illustrate crash site carnage . Officers in patrol cars are managing rolling traffic breaks to slow traffic , Sanders said . Motorists should n't drive faster than 30 mph in the area or in the vicinity of any dust storm , he said . If a driver sees a dust storm ahead , the first step should be to get off the road , he said . I-10 from Phoenix to Tucson gets hit by 10 to 20 dust storms per year , mostly during the summer monsoon season , said Ken Waters , warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix . But he would n't describe the Tuesday event as a storm , rather `` a case of very localized dust being picked up and thrown across the highway . '' Nearby farming could have contributed to Tuesday 's conditions , Bailey said . `` What we see here is some farmland here that is very dry and was recently cultivated , and that may have contributed to this , '' he said . Waters gave credence to that theory , saying that winds were clocked at 15 to 20 mph , not as strong as in typical dust storms , in which winds reach 30 to 40 mph . But the area also had seen little rain in the past few weeks , he said , exacerbating the dust problem . CNN 's Khadijah Rentas and Sara Pratley contributed to this report .
Many of the injured suffered burns in fires caused by collisions , officer says . Three killed ; 14 other people hurt , five seriously . Dust storm caused at least 30 wrecks on I-10 south of Phoenix , authorities say . Officials ask motorists to avoid stretch of highway .