Dozens stranded: Turmoil as hundreds of cars stuck on Rts. 20, 29, and 53
One of the nine cars that slid off Dick Woods Road between Rt. 250 and I-64 before 7pm Friday.PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER
The botched commute that opened what appears on its way to becoming a record December snowfall has turned into an unwelcome slumber party for at least two dozen strangers who had been trying to get home along Thomas Jefferson Parkway and Scottsville Road, according to Albemarle County spokesperson Lee Catlin, who notes in a pre-dawn release that "at some time at around midnight, stranded motorists began to be transported to the Monticello and North Garden fire stations, with a total of about 25 being sheltered there overnight."
The emergency around Charlottesville has gotten so dire that, Catlin notes, the National Guard has begun providing rescue assistance. As of early Saturday morning, she notes, there are about 100 cars–- many still occupied–- on Scottsville Road, aka Route 20 South.
Meanwhile, on Monacan Trail (Route 29 South), Catlin notes, there are another 100 cars and about 75 tractor trailers stranded–- most since 5pm Friday, shortly after the storm began.
Officials have opened a shelter at UVA's Aquatics & Fitness Center, with the Red Cross bringing a trailer full of cots and blankets and Albemarle's Social Services Department staffing the facility. VDOT reports that Route 29 in southern Albemarle County is closed between Route 692 (Plank Road) and the Nelson County line.
Catlin notes that rescue efforts have been hampered by the vast numbers of stranded and abandoned vehicles, and residents are "strongly encouraged" not to drive until conditions improve. However, anyone with a four-wheel-drive vehicle to help transport hospital personnel and other essential workers is encouraged to call the Emergency Communications Center at 434-979-INFO.
25 comments
Kramer....
1- open front door
2- walk out on porch
3- open mouth
4- fall face down in the snow intentionally
5- thirst quenched. :)
Nice list Buffalo girl. I would tend to agree ;-)
With a major snow storm of this magnitude predicted well in advance, I have two questions:
1- Why were so few people prepared for it?
2- How can anybody possibly run out out of potato chips? See #1 perhaps? :)
Boo, you must not know that exactly the opposite explanation has been given for years for the poor driving skills of locals when faced with large amounts of snow.
Supposedly, since we are in the South, our local conditions are such that we don't get the luxurious dry snow that Northern drivers get and therefore, our local drivers should be let off the hook because it's the wet snow really that's to blame. At least until we get a "dry" snow and it's obvious that stupid drivers are to blame and we need to concoct another excuse so we blame dry snow.
I just ran out of potato chips so off I go to Krogers.
Buffalo Girl, that was a good list you compiled. (Referring to first comment here.) I would add one more major factor to that list: the type of snow itself was also why things got so crazy so quickly. It was powdery dry snow with temps in the 20's, versus wet snow. Powdery dry snow is slippery, car tires can't get any traction. Wet slushy snow happens when it's slightly warmer, like when the temp is at 32 degrees exactly, or 31, and melts when hitting the pavement as well as sticking together in a compacted, slushy heap. Car tires have an easier go of it. (Problems arise with the slush however once night falls and temps finally dip down into the 20s. That's when it just turns into an ice rink on the roads.) The powdery dry fluffy stuff enabled mass - slip slidey - accumulations so quickly. So, that was a big factor right there. Possibly if it were a different type of snow less accidents would have happened so early on.
The weather forecast says that temps really won't be getting up above 32/freezing for the rest of this week, so this stuff isn't going anywhere anytime soon. That's a lot of fricking snow out there, shoveled snow banks are just heaped up. We literally ran out of room for where to hurl the shovels of snow when trying to shovel out our parking lot and private 300+ foot road that the City doesn't plow. Had to stop and give it up. We're stuck for the time being. Hope our landlord figures something out. But when and if it finally does warm up a little more, and if it does so rapidly, then we may have issues with flooding as all the melt water will fill rivers and creeks and be everywhere. Fun fun! o_O
(well, we're stuck unless some of our other neighbors care to pick up a shovel that is, and pitch in. But they are definitely not the types to do that. We are though, but it was too much for us. The only place to hurl the snow was across the road into the woods...but you can't get across the road because there's 2 feet of snow in the way. So first you have to shovel a path to the other side of the road, then, anything you shovel has to be carried through that shoveled path and then tossed in the woods. That's a bit time consuming and tiring, to say the least. Shoveling two feet of snow on that wide swath of area gets exhausting really quick. It's nuts! But as crazy as that is, it's nothing compared to the stranded motorists, or those who had to abandon their vehicle and take off on foot. Especially the ones who had little kids in their cars, and those who smashed up their cars in bad accidents. So I just keep that in mind. I'm thankful that we were safe at home, and stocked up on supplies and food.)
THOSE PREPAREDNESS TIPS IN FULL:
7. REMAIN IN BED AND RUB TWO FORMER GIRL SCOUTS TOGETHER FOR WARMTH.
HERE ARE SOME HAZARDOUS WINTER WEATHER PREPAREDNESS TIPS...
1. TRAVEL IS NOT RECOMMENDED ON SATURDAY...AS CONDITIONS WILL
DETERIORATE RAPIDLY AFTER DAYBREAK. IF YOU HAVE TO TRAVEL SATURDAY IN
AN EMERGENCY...CARRY A WINTER STORM SURVIVAL KIT WHICH INCLUDES A
CHARGED MOBILE PHONE...BLANKETS...FLASHLIGHT WITH EXTRA
BATTERIES...HIGH CALORIE NON-PERISHABLE FOOD...WATER...AND A SNOW
SHOVEL. KEEP YOUR GAS TANK FULL...AND AVOID TRAVELING ALONE. LET
SOMEONE KNOW YOUR TIMETABLE AND YOUR PRIMARY ROUTE.
2. IF YOU DO GET STRANDED...STAY IN YOUR VEHICLE. ATTEMPTING TO
WALK FOR HELP IN A WINTER STORM COULD BE A DEADLY DECISION. RUN
THE MOTOR FOR ABOUT 10 MINUTES EVERY HOUR FOR HEAT. OPEN THE
WINDOW A LITTLE FOR FRESH AIR TO AVOID CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING.
MAKE SURE YOUR EXHAUST PIPE IS NOT BLOCKED FROM ICE AND SNOW.
3. IF YOU NEED TO USE A PORTABLE GENERATOR...FOLLOW MANUFACTURERS
INSTRUCTIONS TO KEEP THE AREA SURROUNDING YOUR GENERATOR WELL
VENTILATED.
4. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SHOVEL SNOW UNLESS YOU ARE PHYSICALLY FIT.
HYDRATE YOURSELF OFTEN WITH WATER WHILE SHOVELING...AND TAKE
FREQUENT BREAKS.
5. MOVE PETS AND FARM ANIMALS TO SHELTERED LOCATIONS AND ENSURE
THEY HAVE PLENTY OF FOOD AND DRINK.
6. LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...LOCAL AND CABLE OUTLETS TO
STAY INFORMED ON THE PROGRESS OF THE STORM.
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Charlottesville&state=...
Does that make water more slippery than wet snow?
Here is the comparison...............
http://www.icebike.org/Articles/howslippery.htm
Snow (and ice) is more slippery the warmer it is. Dry snow is less slippery than wet snow. Don't believe me? Ask a ski racer.
I second Buffalo girl on WINA's coverage last night. They broke in at least every half an hour to do extensive traffic reporting as well as to take calls of people in various local areas calling from their trapped cars. They were the only station to report what in the heck was up with 29N heading out of town near the Walmart. My boyfriend was trapped there for hours in traffic that was stopped. Period. It wasn't moving. He had no idea what the problem was. Thanks to WINA, we knew that traffic was being diverted from 29N to 29S to bypass a closed area. It may not have been continuous coverage, but it was the best coverage available in the late, late, early, early hours.
Actually Leon, at WINA, did a fabulous job throughout the night and pre-empted lots of programming to take calls from anyone who needed help and give information to those needing it. I documented this throughout the night at another Hook article. They were not on continually, but certainly often enough to give people the chance to call in and stay connected. I congratulate them !
These potato chips are making me thirsty!
I have heard that the government will have a huge shortage of subcontractors to help with the plowing because they require a huge insurance policy BEFORE you can get on the list. So the guys with trucks don't want to buy the rider policy just to get on the list when they are only called if the snow is real bad. (the additional insurance is 1000 dollars or so)
If the government were smart about it they would set up a program where these folks could be insured through a state program that deducts the premiumns once they are activated. This would bring the costs down for all the plow operators and we would have more guys on call for emergency. It wouldn't cost the state anymore because they would save it in overtime and the political costs of not having the roads cleared.
Not to mention maybe saving someones life because they could get through to the hospital or the fire department could get to them, in time.
Ken, all good points. Larry Richardson must roll in his grave often at the demise of this once-great community asset. WINA ceased investing in their news-gathering and reporting years ago, after he sold the station.
Don't forget that after Hurricane Isabel they congratulated themselves for their all-night coverage, except that they couldn't/wouldn't/or didn't know how to disable their directional signal, so once you got past Pantops or Bellair Mkt or Lowe's you couldn't hear it.
They can do so much better, but appear to have little interest in doing so. How do they not have a plan for broadcasting local news and information in emergencies?
Ken, take a chill pill for God's sake! The only thing any radio station could even think about reporting was the fact that just about every road in the city and county was blocked by motorists with poor driving skills and improper equipment. And anybody that lives in this area should already have anticipated this to be the case.
Wish I had $10.00 for every person I saw with a death grip on their steering wheel and going 4 miles per hour. And most of them were older men, they should already have driving skills in the snow by now.
One more factor for Buffalo Girl; The complete and utter absence of information for commuters from any local radio station. WINA is SUPPOSED to be central Virginia's news center and emergency channel for natural disasters. So while people were stranded all over the area, while it was snowing more than two inches an hour, while we desperately needed information regarding traffic, routing, etc, what did our local emergency station have on the air? A canned, pre recorded sports talk show about the UVa basketball team. Way to go WINA! First thing I do Monday is call the FCC to see what can be done about revoking their license. I thought radio stations were supposed to serve the PUBLIC INTEREST as a condition of being given FCC approval!!!
Webcam shows people shoveling the Mall
Buffalo and That, I echo your praise of Leon at WINA. For a sports guy turned impromptu news reporter, he was terrific and performed a valuable community service.
However, if you were listening just before 8 pm you heard what I heard: that he was signing off and they were going to return to regular programming. I called him during the 8 pm CBS news and implored him to stay on the air. His response was telling: "I'm working on that. I'm trying. Trying to work it with the powers that be."
Obviously someone finally got a clue and gave him the OK to stay on the air. But why was this a difficult decision? Why didn't Leon have any help? Even if news people and other employees couldn't get to the station, they could have been phoning in reports. Why didn't they get Lee Catlin from Albemarle County on at the height of the storm? No interview with VDOT? etc. I could go on.
I stand by my earlier comments. Leon gets an A, but the station management gets an F. They don't care, or don't get it, or can't be bothered, or something.
P.S. If you were listening Saturday morning, you heard Rob Graham providing excellent extended coverage -- the type of coverage that should have started Friday evening. They were at least 12 hours late.
quote: '...he’s a dude, so you’d think he’d have a clue."
Well boo!, you got that right. Most men are much better drivers than women ever thought about being. But, notice I said MOST, not all. :)
(GSOE <--- spotless driving record, not so much as a parking ticket in my entire life!)
Well, I do agree that people in this area don't know how to drive in the snow. Several years ago after a snow I had to go out and run an errand, and had no trouble getting up the hill on our road, it was just common sense on what to do. Get a good "running start" so your car has enough forward momentum, then let it ease up the hill. Don't gun the gas pedal, or else you'll spin out your tires and get stuck. And I'm a female btw. And I'm not even from here. I learned to drive in very much non-snowy southern California. So 45 minutes later I'm now heading off to work, and the boyfriend of one of our neighbors was attempting to leave in his car and lo and behold, there he is violently spinning out his tires, the rear of the car fishtailing left to right, over and over, unable to make it up the hill. The first thing I thought was "IDIOT!" I need to get to work, and he's in my way, blocking the road, and he's a dude, so you'd think he'd have a clue. No, apparently not. I sighed, got out of my car, walked back down the hill, grabbed our shovel and a bag of salt and proceeded to dig his ass out. All the while lecturing him about how you drive up a hill in the snow. Needless to say he seemed embarrassed. I think I emasculated him. :D oh well.
He was probably one of the people out on the road on Friday causing problems.
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great info on fitness
A confluence of factors have turned this major snowstorm into a disaster for our area. My list includes:
- timing, Friday at rush hour the week before Christmas
- speed, the storm accelerated quickly and dumped multiple inches per hour
-road conditions, road treatments that failed to work, or had not been applied
-traffic, volume of vehicles on the road: holiday shoppers, folks getting off work, merchants trying to accommodate holiday and storm shoppers, (who stayed beyond the start of the storm and then hit the roads)
- changing demographics, since the last time a storm of this magnitude hit our area, many workers commute long distances in and out of Charlottesville to work
- UVA students leaving and other college students returning for the holidays
-unprepared drivers, not many have 4 wheel drive, snow tires or chains, (as we all did living in Buffalo)
- weather reporting, cry wolf affect; many times snowstorms have been predicted, but never materialized
And now the wind, blizzard conditions, and more snow--this will be a storm to remember and hopefully one without too many serious tragedies to report.