I-95 in Virginia packed with motorists stranded after winter storm
- The winter storm battered several mid-Atlantic and Southern states on Monday, closing schools and causing power outages.
- In Virginia, motorists were stuck on a 50-mile stretch of Interstate 95 near Fredericksburg overnight.
- Five deaths in three states were due to weather.
Ice and snow stranded hundreds of motorists on Interstate 95 in Virginia on Tuesday after a Winter storms hit several eastern states and snowfall more than a meter thick in some places.
The storm ravaged roads, left more than 300,000 people without power in Virginia and Maryland and left at least five people dead across three states.
No injuries or deaths from the storm or traffic contingencies were reported in Virginia, but state officials are facing a barrage of questions about how the situation is allowed to escalate, with many motorists Cars are angry because they are left in the cold with no way to get down the street. Many also complained that emergency officials failed to realize the severity of the situation and provided food and water to those trapped in freezing temperatures.
Josh Lederman, a reporter for NBC News, tweeted that he was stuck in his car overnight and many motorcyclists have turned off their engines to save gas.
“Everybody (myself included) is on exercise breaks outside their cars, walking their dogs on the interstate. I poured snow into his bowl and let it melt,” he said. He tweeted, detailing the challenge.
The Virginia Department of Transportation tweeted Tuesday night that traffic was cleared and no motorists were left stranded.
The problems started Monday morning when a truck plowed into the main North-South highway along the East Coast, triggering a rapid chain reaction as vehicles, state police said. other out of control.
On the roughly 50-mile stretch of I-95 near Fredericksburg, motorists were trapped in their cars overnight as ice covered the highway. Virginia Department of Transportation tweeted Third, the interstate section of the road remains closed.
At a midday news conference, officials did not say how many spare kilometers were left or how many cars were still stuck.
Department of Transportation engineer Marcie Parker said the agency expected to finish clearing the interstate so it would be open for rush hour Wednesday morning.
On social media, people have shared their experiences of running out of fuel, food and water when they sat for hours without moving. Senator Tim Kaine, D-Va., said Tuesday morning he was still at an impasse for 19 hours on the way to Washington. Others said drivers got out of their cars and were worried about food.
Senator Kaine finally arrived in Washington on Tuesday afternoon, about 27 hours after his journey began.
Meera Rao and her husband, Raghavendra, were driving home to visit their daughter in North Carolina when they got stuck Monday night. They were only 100 feet from the exit but were unable to move for about 16 hours.
“Not a single police officer (officer) came for the 16 hours we were stuck,” she said. “No one came. It was just shocking. In the most advanced country in the world, no one knows how to clear a lane for all of us to get out of that mess?”
On Tuesday, state leaders received questions about why the Virginia National Guard was not called in to assist with rescue operations.
Answers are being given? No one asked for them.
Lauren Opett, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, said in a telephone news conference with reporters Tuesday afternoon: “The Guard has to be activated for them to respond. She says there is no doubt that there will be enough time for all of that to happen.
Opett said it took about 12-24 hours for the Guards officers to be activated and deployed.
Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman for the state police, said fallen trees and black ice remained major problems for much of the state on Tuesday.
“We know many travelers have been stranded on Interstate 95 in our area for an unusual amount of time over the past 24 hours, in some cases since Monday morning. This is unprecedented. used to be, and we continue to steadily move stopped trucks to advance lane restoration,” Parker said in a statement.
Alena Yarmosky, a spokeswoman for Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, said in a statement the state police responded to more than 1,000 traffic crashes and assisted more than 1,000 motorists.
“While sunlight is expected to help VDOT treat and clear the road, all Virginians must continue to stay off the interstate and follow the directions of emergency personnel,” she said.
Kelly Hannon, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Transportation, apologized to motorists and said the department would take a “comprehensive look” into the incident.
Winter weather is wreaking havoc not only on road travel but also on passenger trains in Virginia and other states.
Amtrak’s Crescent, which left New Orleans on Sunday en route to New York, got stuck near Lynchburg on Monday morning, returned to Virginia City and stayed there on Tuesday. Officials said fallen trees blocked the tracks.
Third, train passengers said they had no food, working toilets and information from the railway about what would happen next.
The winter storm covered parts of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Schools across many states remained closed on Tuesday, and about 234,000 customers in Virginia and 22,000 customers in Maryland were without power as of 1 p.m., according to online trackers. Poweroutage.us.
According to the National Weather Service, total snowfall in the Washington area was more than half a meter high.
More than 15 inches of snow fell in Huntingtown, Maryland, the highest in the state, about 40 miles southeast of Washington. Glendie, north of Fredericksburg, recorded more than 14 inches of snow, the highest total snowfall in Virginia, according to the Weather Service.
Five weather-related deaths have been reported. A 7-year-old girl died after heavy snow toppled a tree on a home in Townsend, Tennessee, about 30 kilometers southeast of Knoxville, WVLT reported.
Follow CBS 46.
Three more people died when an SUV and lawn collided in Montgomery County, Maryland. NBC reported.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a snow emergency on Monday and advised residents to stay home. President Joe Biden, who was returning to the White House from Delaware, landed a helicopter in the snow and traveled in a convoy from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
Contributing: Christal Hayes, USA TODAY; Bill Atkinson, Progress Index; Related press