Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) on Tuesday has been stranded on I-95 in Virginia for over 21 hours due to a treacherous snowstorm that wreaked havoc on the region.
“I started my normal 2 hour drive to DC at 1pm yesterday,” Kaine tweeted around 8:30 AM. “19 hours later, I’m still not near the Capitol.”
“My office is in touch with @VaDOT to see how we can help other Virginians in this situation. Please stay safe everyone,” he added.
Around 10 a.m., a Bloomberg reporter tweeted confirmation the senator has been stranded for over 21 hours.
Kaine, a lawyer and former governor of Virginia, is a close ally with Hillary and Bill Clinton, serving as Hillary’s vice-presidential running mate in 2016. Donald Trump defeated the Hillary/Kaine ticket by 77 Electoral College votes.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday morning that parts of I-95 were shut down overnight, “creating a standstill of cars and trucks that stretched 48 miles south of D.C. along one of the busiest highways in the country and leaving people stuck for nearly 20 hours in their vehicles without food and water”:
Transportation officials said there were multiple crashes, some of them involving jackknifed tractor-trailers on the highway.
The mess along I-95 is the result of a winter storm on Monday that walloped the D.C. region and parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S., triggering power outages and resulting in the closure of government agencies, schools and coronavirus testing centers. Some areas in the D.C. region saw up to 12 inches of snowfall.
Gov. Ralph Northam (D) tweeted he is trying to rescue the fellow Democrat by releasing the State and local emergency personnel “to clear downed trees, assist disabled vehicles, and re-route drivers.”
“While sunlight is expected to help @VaDOT clear the road, all Virginians should continue to avoid 1-95[sic],” he added.
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