Interstate 95 in Virginia reopened Tuesday night after hundreds of drivers were stranded for hours, many of them spending the night after a snow storm struck the Washington, D.C., region Monday in a snowy gridlock.
Yedda Stancil lost her son’s flight from Dulles International Airport to home because of bad weather. She had to pay $1,000 for a one-way flight out of Richmond International Airport.
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Stancil took to Facebook after the normally 40-minute drive turned into 3 hours.
She stated, “Cars were stuck, and women were going outside to use the bathroom,” “Children were crying, and vehicles were stuck everywhere. The entire journey home, 95 north, was stopped.
Stancil said that she and her son “drove 21 miles at a crawl with other cars and not one plow was seen. It took 3 hours for 21 miles! Once we reached 95, we were at a complete standstill. We found Route 17 about a half-mile up. We drove through the snow on the emergency lanes to get there and then turned around to go south.
She and her son were able to escape the gridlock before panic set in for the rest of the motorists stuck overnight on Interstate 95.
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Many drivers, like Stancil are still frustrated at Gov. Ralph Northam, the Virginia Department of Transportation, and others are responsible for failing to prepare roads for snow.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam answers a reporter’s questions during a briefing at the Patrick Henry Building, Richmond, Va. (Bob Brown/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP).
Northam spoke with Matt Demlein of WRVA to discuss the slow response time of drivers on the road.
He added, “I would also like to say, that we knew that this storm was approaching.” “We issued warnings. Why don’t you start asking some of these individuals that were out on the highway for hours one, did you know about this storm, two, why did you feel it was so important to drive through such a snow storm, and three, in hindsight, do you think maybe you should have stayed home or wherever you were rather than getting out on Interstate 95? It would be interesting to hear your side of the story.
(Virginia Department of Transportation via AP).
Officers could not give an exact count of the drivers, but photos from the scene showed hundreds upon hundreds of unmoving vehicles and trucks. Stancil and her son are among the many drivers who are relieved to be back at home.
One of them is Tim Kaine, a sitting U.S. Senator from Virginia. He tweeted Tuesday that it took him 27hrs to drive the 110-mile distance from Richmond to Washington.
Lindsay Kornick, Fox News, contributed to this report.
Source: Fox News
