U.S. Highway 264 west of Washington were closed down in both directions due to multiple car accidents Friday.

Beaufort County Emergency Management coordinator John Pack said EMS units from the City of Washington, Chocowinity and Clarks Neck  responded to the scene near Wharton Station Road.

“When we send four ambulances to a site, it’s not a good sign,” Pack said.

Pack said the Fourth of July holiday weekend invariably experiences major accidents, because there are so many travelers on the road.

“And we always have a water incident,” Pack said.

The wreck comes in the wake of Category 2-scale Hurricane Arthur, which occurred Thursday night into Friday morning, and left the country generally unscathed, with no major damage to structures and no injuries reported.