Drivers in Virginia have been stranded of their autos in a single day as authorities labored to reopen an icy stretch of Interstate 95 closed after a storm blanketed the U.S. area in snow a day earlier, officers stated on Tuesday (January 4).
I-95, a significant north-south thoroughfare, was shut down in each instructions close to Fredricksburg, about 55 miles (89 km), the Virginia Division of Transportation stated.
“Our crews are actively working to get everybody off 95. Plans are underway to information autos at the moment stopped on the interstate to close by interchanges, the place they will entry alternate routes,” the company wrote stated in a Twitter message.
The standstill started on Monday as greater than a foot (30 cm) of snow fell in elements of the U.S. Southeast and mid-Atlantic areas, inflicting a number of crashes and spin-outs, native media reported. The freeway paralysis continued as temperatures dropped beneath freezing in a single day.
State and native emergency personnel labored via the evening to clear downed timber, help disabled autos and reroute drivers, Governor Ralph Northam stated on Tuesday.
Social media was flooded with posts from determined drivers trapped for hours of their vehicles in freezing climate.
The fast-moving storm compelled the closure of federal workplaces and colleges, grounded airplanes and knocked out electrical energy for 1000’s of residents.