Stranded on I-65: 'Thank God we're OK'

Just past noon on Thursday, Carl Hester rolled down the window of his minivan, exhausted and impatient after spending a long night stranded in deep snow with hundreds of other motorists on a rural, hilly stretch of Interstate 65 north of Elizabethtown, Ky.

He and his fiance, sleeping beside him, were traveling from northern Ohio to Texas for a relative's surgery Wednesday night when the storm dumped up to 21 inches of snow, jackknifing trucks, sending cars sliding and turning the highway into a dark, frozen parking lot.

Throughout the night, Hester nursed his fuel to stay warm. Truckers offered food. Road crews carried a sick woman to the unblocked northbound lanes. Some tried walking to the nearest exit. He said at one point local firefighters walked past with blankets and fuel, but some still ran out of gas during the night.

"We'd love to get out of here," he said. "But praise God we're OK."

Hundreds of motorists were stranded in snow Wednesday night on I-65 between Elizabethtown and Lebanon Junction, some for 15 hours, leaving mile after mile of vehicles lining the southbound interstate into Thursday afternoon.

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet crews weren't able to get to accident sites before snow accumulated around the stuck vehicles, law enforcement officials said. The problem was compounded when traditional detour routes, such as Dixie Highway and Ky. 313 in Hardin County, also were blocked, state highway officials said.

Then efforts to clear the I-65 jam, which had reached 15 miles early afternoon Thursday, were set back by more crashes, officials said.

A second major tie-up of more than 400 vehicles occurred on Interstate 24 after multiple trucks jackknifed in Lyon, Trigg and Christian counties. State highway officials said I-24 traffic was moving again in both directions by mid-afternoon Thursday. State highway officials said at least 57 counties, mainly in central, eastern and southeastern Kentucky, reported state routes blocked by high water or mudslides.

Gov. Steve Beshear declared his second state of emergency in a month, deploying National Guard troops. About 75 guardsmen were deployed to offer water, transportation and shelter for stranded drivers on I-65. They were also using Humvees in Hardin and Marshall counties to reach callers.

At an exit near Lebanon Junction on Thursday, outside a truck stop packed with idling semis in view of a still-gridlocked highway, Kentucky Guard Sgt. Sherman McCoy said his unit had already "helped pull emergency vehicles out of the snow, and we just assisted a lady getting taken to the University of Louisville hospital who had been sitting in traffic all night."

"The truck drivers, we don't worry about so much because they have food and water and a place to sleep," he said. "Everybody's in pretty good spirits, considering. You can see people coming down off the expressway to get drinks and snacks."

The Kentucky Red Cross opened two shelters Thursday morning in Elizabethtown and Radcliff for the motorists, spokeswoman Amber Youngblood said.

Among the stranded along I-65 were Jacqueline Jackson, wife of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and other members of his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition staff, The Associated Press reported. The group was on its way to join Jackson in Selma, Ala., for this weekend's events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the civil rights march led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Rev. Janette Wilson, the coalition's senior adviser, told The AP that members of the group walked two miles to buy snacks at a gas station that was quickly running out of food. She said a nearby McDonald's had already closed because it ran out of food.

Chuck Wolfe, a spokesman for the transportation cabinet, said highway officials and state police considered blocking some on-ramps to I-65 on Wednesday night as the backups worsened but lacked the manpower.

Near a stretch of I-65 at Colesburg Road north of Elizabethtown around 1 p.m. Thursday, some motorists and truckers helped one another as they waited for plows to clear cars ahead of them.

Nearby resident Ronnie Trujillo crossed into the southbound lanes with his jeep to help pull cars out of the snow and into the southbound lanes. "I'm from Colorado," he said. "This is nothing."

Another motorist helped a man whose car was stopped just minutes ahead of his exit.

Among those stuck were a trucker headed to Florida and a newspaper circulation employee who filled up on enough gas to last the night.

Lou Zeisler, 52, of Bowling Green, who was headed to Tennessee, passed the night in the extended cab of his truck with a TV, microwave and plenty of food.

"The main thing is to keep from going stir crazy," he said.

Reach Chris Kenning at (502) 582-4697. Follow him on Twitter at ckenning_cj. Reporter Matthew Glowicki can be reached at (502) 582-4989. Follow him on Twitter at @MattGlo.

Emergency Red Cross shelters

• Prichard Community Center

404 South Mulberry Street

Elizabethtown, KY 42701

• Colvin Community Center

230 Freedom's Way

Radcliff, KY 40160-2149