Disaster on I-95 in Virginia

Miles and miles of motorists stranded for over 15 hours on I-95 in Virginia due to a snowstorm. They are running out of food, water and fuel in freezing temperatures. Many have young children and vulnerable pets. Emergency crews are unable to get to them because all lanes are full. This is a nightmare scenario and I pray we don't hear of casualties.

AP News

NBC Washington

Pic of nearly 90 miles of stalled traffic

This is bad! Just been on Sky news here in UK.
Still trying to figure out how this happened so quickly for 90 miles of stuck traffic.
Ah, it was a crash.
Rainbows
Jane

Some excellent footage from a copter.
link< br />

a reply to: new_here

I knew the storm was going to hit that area 48 hours beforehand, and I don't have access to the same meteorologists that the highway departments in Virginia have access to.
Up here in Pennsylvania, we pre-treat the roads with liquid calcium chloride and then we plow the roads with snowplows.

a reply to: new_here

Eventually, people will get the hint and NOT travel during storm warnings, NOT live in the path of seasonal storms and hopefully learn to pack a bug out bag and prepare better for these type of contingencies.

I'll keep them in my prayers regardless, but folks need to respect the weather.

I think anyone with half a brain knew a bad storm was on the way
some people stupidly go on thinking they can do 60 in the ice.

I feel bad for the people that *had* to go to work. heartless to make people go out in that for non-vital work.

Growing up in Wyoming, we always carried a blanket, down sleeping bag, beanie hat, a jug of water, and food (usually breakfast bars), minimally, in our vehicles. Oh, and a good pair of gloves and boots. Always! It was like the proverbial American Express ad...you didn't leave home without it. Failing to do so was a potential death sentence. Still do it to this day, mostly out of habit (even though not in Wyoming).

The temps in VA are not that cold really; overnight temps were +28F, so it's not particularly cold there. A person ccould easily survive with minimal effort. Then there's always walking to safety as an option. It's not like they're in the middle of nowhere. I've driven through this area many times (have relatives who live there). It's snowed quite a bit in the past 24-36 hours, but the thing is, when it's snowing it's usually warm. It's when the snow clears and the sky gets real clear when it gets REALLY cold. Snowing has always been a good sign for warmer temps, but when it cleared was when I would worry. Plus, that's when the wind picks up too, adding to the chill index.

Bottom line - It definitely sucks being stranded in a massive traffic jam like this, but it's not a national catastrophy unless people are just ultra-unprepared for any kind of weather. And, regardless where you live, traveling during winter without being prepared is just plain foolish.

a reply to: new_here


Ummm…there’s always a silver lining…a glimpse of hope in this most tragic of situations…

Think about it for a moment with a calm and open mind…


These were probably mostly people who work for…daddy.gov…and now they’re not in their offices…thinking up the next best way to screw over the average American…

There’s the silver of hope…





YouSir

i have to admit, i am completely astounded at this becoming such a serious problem for more than a couple of hours in the first place. i just can't comprehend just why they didn't just send a cop to the closest exit to the accident and begin guiding people to take that exit and set up a detour around the accident, to the next on ramp. as well as closing off on ramps before the accident site. or to be honest, that people just were not getting off at the next off ramp on their own, thus draining the traffic jam. especially since almost everyone these days has GPS to help guide them around the problem.

it's only a bit over a foot of snow, it can be driven through.sure you have to drive a bit slower, and carefully, but it shouldn't be a major issue, just a pain in the butt.

Jesus, what in gods name are these people doing out and about like this. I've got a friend that lives over there and she mentioned last week of this huge storm coming in and that the state would "shut down" for it. Obviously as others have mentioned, most were probably due to having to work still.

originally posted by: butcherguy
a reply to: new_here

I knew the storm was going to hit that area 48 hours beforehand, and I don't have access to the same meteorologists that the highway departments in Virginia have access to.

Agreed.

Up here in Pennsylvania, we pre-treat the roads with liquid calcium chloride and then we plow the roads with snowplows.

I hate that stuff! Personally, I think all those kinds of deicing chemicals should be banned. In many cases they cause more accidents than they prevent! And it's true too! There's three (3) basic kinds in use:
- Cloride
- Magnesium Chloride
- APEX

Chloride is good from about +35F (with wind, which creates black ice). down to about +16F

Magnesium Chloride is used from about +16F down to about +6 to +8F

APEX is used from 0F down to about -16F. However, most states don't stock this product so they only have Chloride and Mag-Chloride. Anything below -16F and you're 'supposed' to suspend deicing operations (but few do).

Here's the problem, all of these products are like pouring water on ice. As we all know, ice with water on it is many times more slippery than just the ice alone. But it gets worse. In order for these chemicals to work, plows have to clear all the snow off the road surface so the chemical gets applied to the ice and not the snow. (hint - your traction comes from snow, not ice). If they're applying the wrong chemical (because each step up is more expensive) then they're just applying a lubricant to the ice and it's too cold to melt. In other words, it's worthless. In fact, it's less than worthless...it's DANGEROUS! If they would have just left a inch or so of a snow coating on top of the ice people would have far better traction.

I think we all know that all of the chemicals noted above are based on salt, so vehicle corrosion is an issue with any of them. Many states like my home state don't use chemicals, and it works far better. What they use is traction aids, things like sand or coal / mining tailings. They're not trying to melt the ice, but rather just give people traction when crossing it. Trying to actually "melt" the ice in Wyoming, on all the main roads, would be truly impossible! Colorado is a mix of both. In a lot of places here they will use granular salt mixed with sand. It's better than nothing, but it still has salt in it. Not a big environmentalist personally, but I can tell any state that uses lots of deicing chemicals on their roads by looking at the shoulders and ditches. The vegetation which grows there (if any) is usually only plants which can tolerate very high sodium content in the soil.

Anyway, next time you see a chemical truck going down the hightway, don't get behind them thinking you'll have better traction. Actually, the exact opposite is true! And when I say 'slick', I mean SLICK!! You at least have some traction (not a lot) on ice that's dry, but on ice covered with chemical you have zero traction.

Oh, and one other thing...do you know why the chemicals have colored dye in them?? It has nothing to do with crews being able to see what chemical is in their tanks (though they may say that). The reason for the dye is political, believe it or not! The dye is there so when people see it they won't call the state DOT and say their road hasn't been treated yet. It's all about perception.

Emergency response need to react quick on this one.

a reply to: generik

Why can't they use snowmobiles? Even if they have to borrow them from another state? I don't get that?


Unless maybe they are really worried, that if they start delivery supplies, people will want out, and cars will be left, ect...

a reply to: butcherguy

Unfortunately part of the issue was it rained the whole day prior, and the beginning of the storm was rain as well, so I think pre-treatment would have been washed away.

Doesn't excuse the situation though.

originally posted by: chiefsmom
a reply to: generik

Why can't they use snowmobiles? Even if they have to borrow them from another state? I don't get that?

How else are they going to get a great big gob of federal taxpayer money, unles they act like a bunch of bumbling idjuts???
/sarcasm.

That makes WAY too much sense!! You should know better than to apply logic to any government agency!!!

Unless maybe they are really worried, that if they start delivery supplies, people will want out, and cars will be left, ect...

That's already going to be an issue regardless. More than likely they're more worried about having this whole thing appear to be an absolute "tragedy" of Biblical proportions (on all of the MSM) so they can milk it dry!
/sarcasm (again).

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

A lot of Virginia has gotten good at dealing with winter weather. It took a bad storm years back that dropped 2 feet in parts that shut down certain areas for weeks.

Problem with this storm was it was 60-70 degrees most of the week before, and there was a downpour of rain ahead of the cold front. So most treatments would have just washed away even if they did put them down (don't think they did in most parts because of that).

A lot of people didn't even believe it was going to snow since in my area it was literally 70° twelve hours before the snow.

I think it was just a perfect storm and people didn't really take it seriously.

It was cold here in central va last night. Prediction was 11° at 7am & I'm not sure how low the temp dropped however it was 15° here at 9am.
Those people probably had a very miserable evening. Traffic & accidents are a huge problem quite often all year round on I-95 & especially I-81 with most due to trucks.

Cheers
Ektar

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Happens all the time here. But yeah, I sort of get it, for someplace not used to that kind of thing. New Years Eve here it was about 65F in the morning and by 4pm it was in the 30's and snowing hard. Had 6" on New Years Day. Just a dusting, but seems like it would have been a massive catastrophe in other states.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
Had 6" on New Years Day. Just a dusting, but seems like it would have been a massive catastrophe in other states.

I was in Portland four years ago and had to get out of Dodge because the Snowpocalypse of 2 1/2" was about to drop and no one was willing to go and meet clients the next day.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Yea, at the end of the day the I frastructure here for dealing with snow is kind of good..... For a southern state.

If its a standard storm, even with the smaller crews than Northern states, they can use the day ahead to prep roads. With some of these trickier to deal with storms it's kind of on the citizens to know there's going to be some down time.

Why are you all talking 'climate'? It's weather. The backlog for 80 miles was caused by a 6(?) truck pile up which started it off.
Rainbows
Jane