‘Incredibly Unusual Event’ — Virginia Officials Surprised Heavy Winter Snow Led to I-95 Gridlock

Virginia officials said Tuesday night they were surprised by the ferocity of the “incredibly unusual” weather event that saw hundreds of vehicles trapped on Interstate 95 over the past 48-hours.

Thousands of motorists were left stranded in their vehicles, some for more than 12 hours, on the I-95 in Virginia following heavy snow and ice blockages – with some motorists calling it “the longest traffic jam” they’d been in, as Breitbart News reported.

Virginia’s Governor Ralph Northam (D) described the event as “incredibly unusual” and defended his decision not to send in the National Guard to assist clearance teams, suggesting it wouldn’t have helped the situation.

“We all need to be clear that this was an incredibly unusual event,” Northam said at a news conference, adding he could understand drivers’ “frustration and fear.”

AP reports he added 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 further pleaded a state of emergency, which would typically be declared hours or days before an event to create extra flexibility in responding, would have done no good.

Motorists first began experiencing problems on Monday night when the snow storm hit overall resulting in the Fredricksburg area in Virginia receiving at least 14 inches of snow.

Authorities report the preliminary cause of the traffic jam was when a truck jack-knifed on Interstate 95 between Richmond and Washington on Monday morning. This reportedly created a chain reaction of drivers braking and losing control of their vehicles due to icy conditions.

The extreme weather also resulted in further delays as it caused trucks stuck in traffic to break down on the motorway with The Virginia Department of Transportation office (VDOT) in Fredericksburg reporting the traffic was “blocked near exit 136 (Centreport Pkwy.) area due to struck/disabled trucks”.

There were also reports other trucks had jack-knifed on the road due to icy conditions which prevented snowplows from clearing the road faster.

The interstate 95 was briefly closed between exit 152 (Dumfries) and exit 104 (Carmel Church), roughly a 50 mile stretch, to allow for officials to remove broken down vehicles.

Officials claimed that they were unable to prepare for the storm by pretreating the road with salt and chemicals as it the storm had begun with rain so would have washed these preventative measures away.

Kelly Hannon, a spokeswoman for the transportation department, apologised to motorists for the mass delays and said the department would take an “exhaustive look” into what had occurred.

There have been no reports of any fatalities or major injuries as a result of the storm on I-95 as of yet. However, sadly three people died in a crash in Maryland on Monday evening after a SUV four passengers crashed into the back of a snow plough on Route 29. When authorities arrived, Two women and a man were pronounced dead at the scene, with the fourth passenger being seriously injured. The snowplow driver is reportedly uninjured.

Some 270,000 customers were also left without power on Tuesday afternoon from Georgia to Maryland, due to power outages caused by the storm.