If you haven’t seen the news from Virginia overnight, the images are not pretty. Sometime later Monday morning, as a freak winter snowstorm was battering the mid-Atlantic region, the conditions of Interstate 95 between DC and the suburbs of Richmond deteriorated beyond saving. Some drivers have ended up stranded over 24 hours now as the efforts continue to reach vehicles and bring passengers to safety.
The blame game is also piling up as furious motorists lob insults and angry Tweets at the Virginia Department of Transportation, and current Gov. Ralph Northam, for such a poor mishandling of the storm and the rescue efforts that remain ongoing.
The situation has grown dire for several drivers in need of heat and assistance still stuck even at this hour:
Furious drivers stranded on I-95 in Virginia for more than 20 hours without gas, food and water are demanding that Governor Ralph Northam speed up rescue efforts as they resort to calling DoorDash in a dire effort to get food.
‘We have to find a way to get national guard here. Diabetics and babies down here. People are going die here,’ a friend told NBC’s Jim Scarborough, who tweeted the quote in a plea to get people rescued faster.
Among those caught in the storm, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s former running mate in 2016:
I started my normal 2 hour drive to DC at 1pm yesterday. 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. pic.twitter.com/Sz1b1hZJZ5
— Tim Kaine (@timkaine) January 4, 2022
With the timeframe and location of I-95 serving as a main artery for commuting, numerous government officials and reporters from various media outlets were also stuck in the mess which made for some firsthand on-the-scene reporting:
My sister sent me a story that included this line:
VDOT says they are “bringing in additional resources and making progress."
“…making progress?”
Thanks @GovernorVA @RalphNortham, I needed a good laugh to keep my spirits up.— Jim DeFede (@DeFede) January 4, 2022
Some areal footage of the miles of stoppage:
An aerial view of the drivers who have been stuck on I-95 in Virginia since Monday afternoon, with complaints of little food and water pic.twitter.com/ROHh3oY73o
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) January 4, 2022
To give you more perspective, there is nearly 90 miles of roadway south of DC with stranded cars and trucks:
https://twitter.com/JenDelgadoFOX/status/1478416361454018560
VDOT also admitted today that I-95 was not treated since they thought the storm was starting as rain:
WOW: VDOT says I-95 was *not* pretreated because the storm was to start as rain, which would have washed pretreatment away. Officials insist they were prepared, but *could not have possibly kept up* with how fast snow coming down.
— Pete Muntean (@petemuntean) January 4, 2022
Hours later there finally appears to be some movement as cars trickle off here and there. The problem, however, is that hundreds of drivers and passengers remain stranded with many seeking food and some in need of medical attention. The other need, of course, is heat, as many vehicles ran out of fuel hours and hours ago.
Here is some more overhead footage along with video from a driver stuck in the mess:
The storm itself did dump nearly a foot of snow on this particular area between Fredericksburg and the southern DC suburbs. However, it’s unclear how VDOT and other local agencies allowed such a snarled mess to occur before they shut down the interstate, which is a common occurrence in these situations.
For some reason, Democrats attempted to blame Virginia’s incoming Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, who doesn’t take office until January 15:
Typical… right down to the "Republicans" like Jonah Goldberg blaming Youngkin rather than the DemoKKKrat governor who's in until Jan. 15.
Glenn Youngkin Gets Blamed for I-95 Traffic Snarls As Actual Governor Ralph Northam Appears MIA https://t.co/UOTo52F1l4
— Howie Carr (@HowieCarrShow) January 4, 2022
Clearly, Youngkin isn’t to blame for this mess, Democrats are still firmly in charge of the statehouse in Richmond.
This is simply poor planning and poor execution on the part of state officials who were caught off guard by a fast-moving storm, and then clearly not proactive enough to rescue drivers trapped due to state government incompetence. Virginia, like many states in the mid-Atlantic region, gets snow regularly but not enough for anyone to be very good at managing or removing it.
The efforts continue Tuesday to reach stranded cars and bring everyone to safety.
