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Hundreds stranded all night in freezing temperatures on snowy US motorway

Jack-knifed lorries caused a huge tailback on Interstate 95 in Virginia.

wintere-weather-interstate-shutdown A closed section of Interstate 95 near Fredericksburg AP / PA Images AP / PA Images / PA Images

HUNDREDS OF MOTORISTS were stranded for nearly 24 hours in freezing temperatures along a 50-mile stretch of motorway in the US state of Virginia which became impassable when lorries jack-knifed in a winter storm.

The disabled trucks triggered a chain reaction as other vehicles lost control and blocked lanes in both directions of Interstate 95, the main north-south motorway along the East Coast, police said.

As hours passed and night fell, motorists posted messages on social media about running out of fuel, food and water.

Meera Rao and her husband Raghavendra were driving home from visiting their daughter in North Carolina when they got stuck yesterday 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?”

There were no immediate reports of serious injuries.

Around daybreak, road crews began helping drivers get off “at any available interchange”, the Virginia Department of Transportation tweeted.

By 9am, a single lane of traffic was creeping forward between many stalled trucks and cars in one direction. People could be seen walking down traffic lanes still covered with ice and snow.

Crews were working to tow the stopped trucks and to remove snow and ice while guiding stranded motorists to the nearest exits, transportation officials said.

Governor Ralph Northam said his team responded through the night, sending emergency messages to connect drivers with help and working with local officials to set up warming shelters.

He said he could not provide an estimate for when I-95 would reopen or how many vehicles remained stranded.

Transportation Department engineer Marcie Parker said the agency expected to finish clearing the interstate by Tuesday night and it should be open for tomorrow morning’s rush hour.

People who were stranded overnight and their families lashed out at Northam on Twitter, asking why the National Guard was not deployed.

He said he opted not to request National Guard help because the issue facing state crews was not a lack of manpower but the difficulty of getting workers and equipment through the snow and ice to where they needed to be.

He said that effort was complicated by disabled vehicles, freezing temperatures and ice.

Rao said they stopped their car engine at least 30 times to conserve fuel and ran the heat just enough to keep warm.

Finally, at around mid morning today, a tow truck driver appeared and cleared away snow, allowing the Raos and other cars back up and take the exit.

“He was a messenger from God,” she said. “I literally was in tears.”

Up to 11in of snow fell in the area during yesterday’s blizzard, according to the National Weather Service, and state police had warned people to avoid driving unless absolutely necessary, especially as colder night-time temperatures set in.

Compounding the challenges, traffic cameras went offline as much of central Virginia lost power in the storm, the transportation department said.

Senator Tim Kaine, who lives in Richmond, said he was stuck in his car 21 hours after starting his two-hour commute to the Capitol in Washington DC at 1pm yesterday.

“This has been a miserable experience,” he told WTOP.

He described camaraderie among those who were stranded, including a Connecticut family returning from a Florida vacation who walked up and down lines of parked cars sharing a bag of oranges.

In Prince William County, emergency crews responded to 10 calls from motorists, including complaints about hypothermia and diabetics concerned about a prolonged lack of food, said Matt Smolsky, assistant fire chief. None of the calls were life-threatening, but four patients were transported.

Also stranded was NBC News correspondent Josh Lederman, who spoke on NBC’s Today show today by video feed from his car. He said he had been stuck about 30 miles south of Washington since 8pm yesterday.

“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 (minus 3C), and there’s no way that anybody can get to you in this situation.”

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    Mute Paul Mallon
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    Jan 4th 2022, 8:24 PM

    Who told yer one she’s living in the most advanced country in the world?

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    Mute George Vladisavljevic
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    Jan 4th 2022, 8:32 PM

    @Paul Mallon: I was wondering that as well Paul.

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    Mute Finnster
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    Jan 4th 2022, 10:34 PM

    @Paul Mallon: lol

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    Mute CAMILA REMONA
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    Jan 4th 2022, 10:46 PM

    @Paul Mallon: that was priceless

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    Mute Luke
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    Jan 5th 2022, 9:44 AM

    @Paul Mallon: obviously Wakanda is the most advanced country :-P

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    Mute Watchful Axe
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    Jan 4th 2022, 8:38 PM

    In fairness, they got our equivalent of a red warning, don’t go out on the roads. But you can’t tell a yank what to do.

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    Mute TomTraubert
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    Jan 4th 2022, 10:31 PM

    @Watchful Axe: not just ‘yanks’ – can’t tell an Irishman to not jump in the sea during a storm either.

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    Mute Brian Farrell
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    Jan 4th 2022, 8:44 PM

    Spare a thought for those stuck in electric cars. Frozen.

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    Mute David Spiteri
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    Jan 4th 2022, 9:09 PM

    @Brian Farrell: In an EV you aren’t idling an engine which will burn a whole lot of juice pretty quickly so you’d manage just as well in an EV where you can manage the heating from your mobile phone, once you get the cabin up to a suitable temperature it’ll use around 2-3kw an hour to maintain that heat, for a 58kwh battery fully charged that would last about a day or so depending on how much battery is left, same logic for ICE’s too don’t forget.

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    Mute Brian Farrell
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    Jan 4th 2022, 9:51 PM

    @David Spiteri: I wonder how many people arrived at the blockage point with a full charge.

    And how far to the nearest point to recharge once they stated moving.

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    Mute David Spiteri
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    Jan 4th 2022, 9:55 PM

    @Brian Farrell: I also wonder how many people arrive at the blockage point with a full tank, and how far to nearest fuelling station, come on try harder.

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    Mute Alan Biddulph
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    Jan 4th 2022, 10:29 PM

    @Brian Farrell: Electric cars have heated seats, and sometimes in the back too. So I don’t think you’d freeze Brian. Also like the previous person said, EV could last hours with blowers on constant, or days if flicking on and off.

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    Mute Gavin Tobin
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    Jan 4th 2022, 10:59 PM

    @Brian Farrell: Most fully charged current model 77-100kw/h EVs would last about 2 days nice & toasty and probably watching movies or playing videos games too.

    Definitely wouldn’t poison themselves with carbon monoxide, NOx, SOx, PAHs or PMs either.

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    Mute Sean
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    Jan 5th 2022, 7:28 PM

    @Brian Farrell: Norway is the country with the most EVs per capita and they have a lot of snowy weather. EVs out perform internal combustion engines which have to have the car running to generate heat and if there is snow in the tailpipe there is the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

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    Mute Joe Kennedy
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    Jan 4th 2022, 8:14 PM

    Snow joke, that!

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    Mute JG
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    Jan 4th 2022, 8:51 PM

    Met Éireann issued a yellow warning… Why didn’t these peolel heed it.. Its their own fault.

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    Mute Ciarán O' Donoghue
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    Jan 4th 2022, 8:19 PM

    And across the other side of the world, 70 million degrees! Surprised no story about it on here…

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    Mute ⚡ Seánie ⚡
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    Jan 4th 2022, 8:39 PM

    @Ciarán O’ Donoghue: We can’t handle an Immersion Heater, never mind an artificial sun.

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    Mute Colin Tierney
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    Jan 5th 2022, 6:27 AM

    Absolutely avoidable, they gave a weather warning in advance! If it was Canada BC the road would of been shut down if it clearly wasn’t safe for traffic!

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    Mute Sean
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    Jan 5th 2022, 7:30 PM

    @Colin Tierney: having seen the people eagerly awaiting the cancelled fireworks in London I think it’s possible that many just didn’t hear the weather warning forecast. Or maybe they thought it was fake news who knows these days?

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    Mute Thomas Troy
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    Jan 4th 2022, 11:57 PM

    I blame global warming…..

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