Considering there's stories of people being stranded for over 24 hours on highways during pileups like this, it could've gotten pretty bad. But you
are correct, they were eventually able to free up portions of the road, enough to start slowly allowing traffic through.
again, stranded implies helpless and in danger....being stuck in a traffic mess is not being stranded, now if she was in the mountains and stuck in a
snow drift with no one around for miles, that is stranded....or being on a deserted island or etc.....