Twenty-one people were in jured in a morning rush hour accident in the St. Louis downtown area. Thirty-one vehicles were involved in the accident.

The freezing rain during rush hour is responsible for numerous wrecks in the St. Louis area. The freezing rain started around 4 a.m. on Wednesday. About one-tenth of an inch of rain fell in the 90 minutes, but it created slick spots on bridges, overpasses and ramps.

The 31-car pileup happened on Interstate 64/Hwy 40 near downtown. Three tractor-trailers were involved and five emergency vehicles responded to the wreck. One person is in critical condition and 20 others had minor injuries.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch is reporting that eastbound lanes were finally reopened at 9:30 a.m. The accident happened at 5 a.m.

MoDOT reported they were caught off guard by the freezing rain because meteorologists paid by MoDOT told the road department there was only a chance of freezing rain.

Once the freezing rain happened, MoDOT got salt trucks on the road, but by that point, it was 5 a.m. and the accident had already happened.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported at least 60 wrecks in the region.

(The Associated Press and St. Louis Post Dispatch contributed to this report.)