Travelers across the United States were stranded in miserable circumstances on Tuesday, as the country’s transportation infrastructure ground to a halt following a winter storm on Sunday, and amid staff shortages due to COVID-19.
Airlines cancelled 3,723 flights on Tuesday, according to Flight Aware, with Washington DC’s two airports – Reagan and Baltimore/Washington International – worst affected.
Delays and cancellations have plagued air travel since Christmas, with the pandemic and weather being blamed, and the misery showing no signs of abating.
A train from New Orleans to New York City, the Amtrak Crescent 20, was finally on the move at 5pm ET on Tuesday – having left New Orleans at 9:15am local time on Sunday (10:15am ET), and running into delays until getting stranded at Lynchburg, Virginia, due to downed trees.
Amtrak train 90 arrives 28 hours late in Arlington, Virginia, after a winter snow storm hit Northern Virginia causing major delays and accidents
Kamala Harris, the vice president, angered many by tweeting enthusiastically about the Biden administration getting America ‘moving’ – despite thousands being stuck.
‘Because of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, America is moving again,’ she said, in a tweet which struck many as tone deaf.
‘That’s what infrastructure is all about: getting people moving.’
Snow storm Frida trapped hundreds trapped along Virginia’s I-95 on Tuesday, and hundreds more were left stranded inside Amtrak trains for more than 30 hours with blocked toilets and no food.
It was not until Tuesday evening, at 5:15pm ET, that the Virginia department of transport said the road had finally been cleared.
At 3:14pm they tweeted: ‘We’re making significant headway to remove disabled vehicles, & tractor trailers from I-95 then plow trains will come through to remove snow and ice.
‘I-95 NB still closed between exit 104/Rt.207 in Caroline to PW.
‘I-95 southbound is closed at exit 152 to exit 136/Centreport Pkwy.’
At 5:15pm, the agency updated travelers that the road had been cleared.
‘UPDATE: There are no people stranded still on I-95.
‘Less than 20 vehicles left to be removed from the interstate before plow trains will come through to remove snow and ice from the travel lanes.’
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Meanwhile, the trains remained snarled until Tuesday evening.
Amtrak’s Crescent, which left New Orleans on Sunday on its way to New York got stuck near Lynchburg, Virginia on Monday morning and remained there Tuesday until 5pm ET.
Officials said downed trees due to the snow storm blocked the tracks, but could not explain why they were unaware of the problem until the train arrived at the site of the blockage.
On Tuesday morning, passengers still aboard the train told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution they were without food, functioning toilets and information from the railroad as to what happens next.
‘All we’ve been told is there are trees on the tracks preventing us from moving forward,’ passenger Sean Thornton said Tuesday.
‘Nobody has eaten for about 20 hours and the toilets in coach are completely backed up.The snack bar sold out of food yesterday. Passengers have been banned from leaving the train.’
Lavita Booker (left) said she and about 200 other passengers aboard the Amtrak Crescent were stuck for more than 30 hours in Lynchburg, Virginia
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Snow storm Frida knocked down trees on top of railways in Virginia on Monday, causing Amtrak trains to stall, some for up to 30 hours
Booker (right) was able to exit the train for a while as it remained suspended
Amtrak said the trains would resume once the tracks have been cleared up
Amtrak says the train will complete its trip to New York, which was scheduled to end on Monday, on Tuesday evening, now the tracks are finally clear.
‘Our staff is working to make sure food and water is available for Ankara Oto Kurtarma customers,’ spokesperson Kimberly Woods wrote in an email.
Amtrak told WSET-TV that passengers could leave the train while it was blocked.
A separate train bound from Roanoke, Virginia, to Washington, D.C., got stuck on the same tracks, said Tamera Ferguson of Lynchburg.
She said her son spent 14 hours on the train before it returned to Lynchburg after 1am on Tuesday.She said the railroad didn’t offer stranded passengers other transportation or hotels.
Other passengers also expressed their frustration on social media as they continue to wait for their ride to resume.
On Facebook, passenger Lavita Booker said Amtrak simply dropped the ball and failed her and the other passengers aboard the Crescent.
‘There’s over 200 and some people on this train. We are stuck.We’ve been stuck for 22 hours. This is totally ridiculous.’
Twitter user Annie Catheriner, who was on the ride to New York City’s Penn station, had been trapped on the train more more than 24 hours.
‘There is no electricity, food or water and now one is here,’ Catheriner wrote.
Riders aboard the two delayed trains expressed their frustration on Twitter
Jon Tenney, another Twitter user stuck on the same train also complained about a lack of essential services.
‘All of the conductors have left.The doors are open. No heat. We ran out of food 8 hours ago and the toilets are no longer working,’ Tenney wrote.
Another Twitter user with the handle name KaiChelena tweeted, ‘I’ve been in this godd*mn Amtrak station since 11:50 am and with the amount in time I’ve been in here someone could’ve drove me up to Philly and I would’ve been home by now.
Twitter user Jon Leo said he was stranded in Lynchburg for 30 hours and hoped for an end to the madness.
‘The crew has been doing the best they can, but even they aren’t getting effective updates.’
At 4:52pm on Tuesday, Leo confirmed the train was at long last on its way.
Almost an hour later, he tweeted: ‘Just left Charlottesville, VA.We movin!’
Sunday and Monday’s snowstorm – part of Winter Storm Frida – dumped over a foot of snow in parts of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and southern New Jersey.
Frida also blanketed much of Middle and East Tennessee into northern Alabama with as much as six inches of snow just after record warmth rang in the new year.
The storm left Amtrak trains suspended and shut down multiple trips through the northeast
The terrible storm also caused similar delays along the I-95 in Virginia
The Daily Progress of Charlottesville reported a train southbound from Charlottesville to Lynchburg had also been delayed due to downed trees, while Amtrak reported that its New York-bound Silver Star train, which left Miami, remained stopped at Richmond on Tuesday morning because of downed trees.
A number of New York-New Orleans Crescents departing on Tuesday and later days have been canceled.
Amtrak also canceled both directions of the Piedmont, which runs between Raleigh, and Charlotte in North Carolina on Tuesday, as well the northbound Palmetto from Savannah, Georgia, to New York, and the northbound Auto Train, which operates from Sanford, Florida, to Lorton, Virginia.
The company also said it is operating ‘modified’ service on some other routes on the Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston and on other trains south of Washington.
‘Kamala strikes again’: VP is slammed for tweet claiming ‘America is moving again’ while hundreds – including Democrat Senator Tim Kaine – had just entered their 27th hour stranded on I-95 in Virginia without gas or water
The vice president is now getting slammed for tweeting that ‘America is moving again’ while hundreds – including Virginia State Senator Tim Kane – were entering their 27th hour stranded on I-95 in Virginia without gas, food and water.
One infuriated user called on Kamala Harris to fire her social media team.’They are clearly not agile enough to consider major headlines before posting something that makes you look foolish,’ they wrote.
Harris tweeted Tuesday around noon: ‘Because of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, America is moving again. That’s what infrastructure is all about: getting people moving.’
Her post referenced the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which ‘will rebuild Tribal roads, bridges and rails, expand access to clean drinking water for Native communities, ensure every Native American has access to high-speed internet, tackle the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, and invest in Tribal communities that have too often been left behind,’ according to the .
But many found it insensitive to the travelers who had endured more than a day stuck in their car without the help of Virginia’s National Guard.Vehicles seemingly didn’t move until the snow and ice began to melt Tuesday afternoon when temperatures climbed into the mid-30s.
‘Why, why oh why would anyone think this tweet is a good idea at the same time I-95 is trending for a 12 hour+ 30-50 mile standstill?Are you guys *trying* to write GOP midterm attack ads for them?’ one person said in response to Harris.
Another tweeted: ‘There are people stuck in I-95, Kamala aint s*** moving,’ while another added: ‘I-95 would like a word.’
Senator Kaine, one of the hundreds of travelers stuck along the backed-up interstate, said in a tweet early Tuesday that read: ‘I started my normal 2 hour drive to DC at 1pm yesterday.19 hours later, I’m still not near the Capitol.’
He later reassured: ‘I’m frustrated, but not in serious trouble.’
But as of Tuesday afternoon, Kaine was freed from the spot he had been stuck in for a total of 27 hours without food or drink.He told CNN that the last time he had a beverage was when he had a Dr Pepper at 4am when he stopped for gas before getting on the I-95.
Once he arrived at the Capitol, he said he was rushing straight to the bathroom and looking forward to eating a big meal.
And thankfully, the senator had 150 miles in his tank and only 40 miles left to his destination as the road began to clear up.
The snowy pile-up between Dumfries Road, which is nearly an hour to Washington, DC, and Carmel Church, only 8mi from the Capitol, began after a six-vehicle crash in Stafford
A day after the crash, people are now wondering if governor-elect Glenn Youngkin could be sworn into office before he was originally scheduled to on January 15
People on Twitter called Northam an ’embarrassment of a governor’ and a ‘fool’ for not sending out the National Guard to help drivers who have been stranded in their cars without food or water for nearly 24 hours
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