At least three people were killed and roughly two dozen injured in a series of crashes involving 30 to 40 vehicles in "white-out" conditions along a slippery stretch of highway in Detroit on Thursday, according to officials of the US state Michigan.

Two children were among those who died in eight to 10 collisions that occurred on an elevated stretch of the interstate highway, Michigan State Police Lieutenant Michael Shaw said. Another 20 to 25 people were injured in the morning rush hour accidents, according to police estimates.

The multi-vehicle crash on southbound I-75 from Springwells to Schaefer Highway forced closure of the road for hours, as authorities and emergency crews helped the injured.

"Visibility was reduced to zero and an incident occurred and then you had a chain reaction multi-car pile-up," Michigan Department of Transportation spokesman Rob Morosi said, adding it will probably be early evening before the freeway is again totally reopened to traffic.

The number of killed and injured could change as the investigation continues.

Weather forecasters earlier bumped up their Thursday snowfall predictions for Metro Detroit and issued a winter weather advisory for the area, which could see up to 10 centimeters of lake effect snow.