Thousands of motorists were stranded for more than eight hours along a section of rural interstate highway in southern West Virginia early Friday after a mudslide caused by heavy rains blocked a storm drain the previous night, flooding and completely shutting down the northbound lanes.
Traffic backed up for 12 miles along the West Virginia Turnpike about 20 miles south of Charleston, the state capital. Traffic was not rerouted, and many motorists along the mountainous route had no choice but to remain in their vehicles overnight.
One lane eventually opened in the early morning of Friday but traffic remained a standstill afterwards for hours, according to a statement provided to CBS News by West Virginia Department of Transportation spokesperson Jennifer Dooley.
“Traffic should have been detoured to allow drivers an alternate route around the mudslide,” Executive Director of the Parkways Authority Chuck Smith said in the statement. “The Parkways Authority takes full responsibility for the failure to reroute traffic, and would like to assure the public that this will never happen again.
No injuries were reported, Smith said, adding that the Parkways Authority is “examining and revising its policies on Turnpike closures and detours as a result of this incident.”
Motorists posted on social media that they had no information on why the standstill occurred, that they had nothing to drink in their vehicles or that their children needed to use the bathroom.
Nicky Walters said in a telephone interview that she felt fortunate while she was stuck because she is healthy, did not not need medicine and had nobody she was responsible for caring for.
“But I felt desperate because I knew that other people needed help,” said Walters, who became stranded while returning to Charleston from a pro wrestling event in Mount Hope. “People needed, at minimum, water bottles passed out and some snacks, much less information. They needed any lifeline to the outside world, and there was none.”
By the time Brittany Lemon and her family finally got home to Parkersburg, 24 hours had passed since they began returning from their vacation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
In a video posted to Facebook, Lemon said she had no water and her children needed to use the bathroom. They were able to get an hour’s sleep while stuck on the highway.
“Definitely next year when I go back, I’ll be prepared for an emergency in the vehicle,” she said.
Mitch Carmichael, a former cabinet secretary of the Department of Economic Development, said on Facebook that he was on the turnpike “for hours with no relevant or timely info as to when issue will be cleared.”
He called it “incredibly unprofessional” for the public to be left in the dark and said it gives West Virginia “a terrible image.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey said in a statement that the shutdown “was completely unacceptable. I have directed the Parkways Authority to immediately conduct an investigation and revise its procedures as necessary as a result of this incident.”
The turnpike shutdown came as much of the Eastern U.S. suffered through days of dangerous heat this week before the latest storms battered West Virginia. The state’s Emergency Management Division on Thursday posted a photo of a measuring tape in floodwaters with the caption, “From ‘dry as a bone to 5 inches’ in 45 minutes this evening in the Elm Grove area.”
On June 14, nine people, including a 3-year-old, died when as much as 4 inches of rain fell in parts of Wheeling and Ohio County within 40 minutes.
In February, West Virginia was hit with heavy rains and dangerous flooding that left at least three people dead and caused millions of dollars in damage.
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