Dozens of Cold, Hungry Drivers Trapped for 35 Hours on Snowbound Highway
Can you tell what's going on in this photo? You can't, because everything is covered in fucking snow. It was taken in Buffalo, New York, yesterday, near where dozens of people have spent the past 35 hours trapped in their cars on Interstate 90.
The drivers were rendered immobile in the wee hours of Tuesday morning after a lake effect snow storm dumped several feet of powder on them, stopping traffic (and there's more snow coming). The Buffalo News brings you the story of these poor, hungry souls who probably have multiple Gatorade bottles filled with pee in their passenger seats at this point:
"I haven't eaten for a day and a half," said Samuel Martin, a 49-year-old trucker from Silverton, Ore. "This huge pile, this mess, was allowed to be here. They completely abandoned this highway once they decided to close it."
He is on the eastbound Thruway, close to Exit 56 in Blasdell, and said no one had come to check on him. He was able to walk to the Wegmans on McKinley Parkway and buy some food to bring back to his truck. State Police did give envelopes and a note to a trucker to distribute to the other drivers. The note said authorities plan to evacuate the drivers.
Several drivers contacted by the News said they haven't been checked on since becoming trapped, while others had been taken by police or neighborly snowmobilers to a nearby toll booth building. These two men, who struck up a heartwarming end-of-the-world-bromance-type situation after one of them let the other into his car after the latter's battery died, were among the fortunate:
After more than 28 hours together, they have become fast friends.
"I almost feel like he's my best friend at this point. Letting me in his car, pretty much saved my life," Daley said, adding that several other motorists declined to let him in before he asked Ratcliff.
"They got the eastbound open, they have plows down there," Ratcliff said. "You see regular cars going down. We're still buried on the westbound."
On Twitter, Mashable's Brian Ries notes, one trapped Greyhound Bus rider wrote that she hadn't eaten since Monday. When ABC News came calling for her story, she asked the only reasonable question:
Well, @ABC? (Note: Twitter user is one of many who are stranded on upstate NY's I-90 for more than 24 hours.) pic.twitter.com/SZbsBcK1Gt
— Brian Ries (@moneyries) November 19, 2014
Fortunately, @angel_tweets_'s bus appears to have since been rescued.
David Chronister, another driver, dictated his 24-hour ordeal to Ries for a Mashable story:
You're really kind of in your own little world in your vehicle here. Every time I'd go outside, there was literally nothing happening, so it seemed like a wasted effort. I just got myself cold and wet for no reason at all. I am snowbound.
I was prepared for this.
I have a blanket, bottled water, but my biggest concern at the moment is gas. I can't leave my vehicle running with heat going as I'll run out of fuel. I start every two hours or so to warm up.
Chronister has also since been evacuated:
Yay! Rescued by NYS Troopers. Out of the vehicle and somewhere warm. Thank you!
— DChronis (@DChronis) November 19, 2014
[Image via AP]