All motorists stuck on Virginia highway rescued, say transportation authorities
Hundreds of motorists were stranded all night in snow and freezing temperatures along a 50-mile stretch of Interstate 95 after a crash involving six tractor-trailers in Virginia, with some drivers stuck in place for nearly 24 hours.
By Tuesday evening, transportation authorities in Virginia said that all stranded drivers had been recovered from the motorway south of Washington DC.
Problems began on Monday morning when a truck blocked Interstate 95, the main north-south highway along the east coast, triggering a swift chain reaction as other vehicles lost control, state police said. Traffic stalled across lanes in both directions and, as hours passed and night fell, motorists posted messages on social media about running out of fuel, food and water.
The stranded motorists included the NBC News correspondent Josh Lederman, who spoke on NBC’s Today show on Tuesday via video from his car, with a dog in the back seat.
He said he had been stuck about 30 miles south of Washington DC since 8pm on Monday.
“I don’t have any food or water. I have gas, but how long is that going to last?” Lederman said.
“I think the word is dystopian,” Lederman said. “We started to see a lot of drivers turning their cars off to conserve gas, people running out of food and water, kids and pets holed up for so many hours, people letting their pets out of the car to try to walk them on the street. And in the meantime, no signs of any emergency vehicles that we could see.
“Now, you don’t know if that’s because they can’t get to where you are, but you really start to think if there was a medical emergency, someone that was out of gas and out of heat you know it’s 26F (-3C) and there’s no way that anybody can get to you in this situation.”
Emily Clementson, a truck driver, told NBC Washington she had “never seen anything like it” and urged stuck motorists to ask truck drivers if they have food or water to share, since many carry extra supplies in case they get stranded.
Virginia’s governor, Ralph Northam, tweeted that his team responded through the night alongside state police, transportation and emergency management officials.
“An emergency message is going to all stranded drivers connecting them to support, and the state is working with localities to open warming shelters as needed. While sunlight is expected to help … clear the road, all Virginians should continue to avoid I-95.”
The Virginia state police said they had not received any reports of stormrelated deaths or injuries. However, surrounding authorities have reported that the storm has caused at least five deaths, including two women and a man who died in Maryland after their vehicle crashed into a snow plow on Monday evening.
In Tennessee, a seven-year-old girl died after heavy snow caused a tree to fall on a home. Another child, a fiveyear-old boy in Georgia, was killed after heavy rain and wind caused a tree to fall on a home near Atlanta.
Crews in Virginia worked through
the day on Tuesday to remove stopped trucks, plow snow, de-ice the roadway and guide stranded motorists to the nearest exits along the main northsouth highway on the US east coast, the Virginia department of transportation said.
Around daybreak, road crews began helping drivers get off “at any available interchange”, the department tweeted.
By early evening, only about 20 cars remained on the affected section of road and no one was left stranded, a spokeswoman for the Virginia department of transportation said.
Both Northam and the state’s transport agency have come under fierce criticism for the response. Some had urged Joe Biden to mobilize federal resources to rescue stranded drivers and reopen the highway.
Meera Rao and her husband, Raghavendra, were driving home from visiting their daughter in North Carolina when they got stuck on Monday evening. They were only 100ft past an exit but could not move for roughly 16 hours.
“Not one police [officer] came in the 16 hours we were stuck,” she said. “No one came. It was just shocking. Being in the most advanced country in the world, no one knew how to even clear one lane for all of us to get out of that mess?”
“Been on I-95 south for over 24 hours. This is insane. Nothing is being done, 911 isn’t much help, neither is Virginia state police. And the state has yet to contact National Guard. Insane,” one user tweeted on Tuesday morning.
During the first mid-Atlantic storm of the year, 7-11in of snow accumulated in the area, according to the National Weather Service. Thousands of accidents and stranded vehicles were reported throughout central and northern Virginia.
Others stranded included the Virginia senator Tim Kaine. The Democrat and former vice-presidential nominee tweeted on Tuesday morning that he has been stuck in traffic for more than 19 hours.
“I started my normal two-hour drive to DC at 1pm yesterday,” he wrote, adding that “19 hours later, I’m still not near the Capitol.”
His office was in touch with state officials to “see how we can help other Virginians in this situation”, he said.
Federal government offices in Washington DC opened on Tuesday after a three-hour delay.
Compounding the challenges, traffic cameras went offline as much of central Virginia lost power in the storm. More than 281,000 customers remained without electricity on Tuesday, according to poweroutage.us.
State police warned people to avoid driving unless absolutely necessary.
“Due to the heavy snowfall concentrated in that area, road conditions rapidly turned treacherous for commercial and passenger vehicles,” police said. “VSP troopers, wreckers, and VDOT crews continue to work as quickly as the weather and roads will safely permit to get stuck vehicles cleared and traffic moving again on I-95.”