Snow, slippery lorries and long queues led to boom stops for up to 2,500 cars on the E18 in Sørlandet well into Wednesday night. Early Wednesday morning, traffic resumes, after volunteers used a snowmobile to wake sleeping drivers.
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Just before five o’clock on Wednesday morning, operations manager Kjell Upsahl at the Agder police district says that the traffic is running again.
– From using a dozen police cars on the mission, we are now left with one at each end and almost no queue. With a bulldozer, volunteers from the Red Cross, Norwegian People’s Aid and the Civil Defense, we have got the traffic going again. Among other things, they brought a snowmobile with them, says the operations manager to VG.
Among other things, the volunteers had to assist with waking up drivers.
– No one was evacuated – no one needed health care in the cars.
– Did any cars run out of power?
– That’s right, but now everything should be fine, says Upsahl.
2500 cars
On Tuesday night, the Agder police put crisis staff in connection with the chaotic conditions on the E18 at Tvedestrand municipality in the east of the county.
– People are cold. They have been sitting for a long time and are starting to get very tired. The most important thing for us is to convey to those sitting out there that help is soon on the way, said police chief Kjerstin Askholt to VG just after 23.00 on Tuesday.
The most precarious was then electric cars that were running out of power.
– We want to get people out who can not get out of there on their own, Askholt said.
– We are starting to get a better overview of the situation, the police wrote in a press release 01.10.
– There can be as much as up to 2500 cars involved. This is very much and we must realize that the work will take time. For that reason, we cooperate with the Civil Defense to get blankets, hot drinks and food for those affected, said then Chief of Police Kjerstin Askholt.
– The plan is to work in parallel with opening locks on the E18 towards the oncoming lane to turn parts of the traffic, the police chief continued. The police had then set up a center for evacuees, as part of the preparations for the possible evacuation of people from the cars.
– The wildest thing I’ve been to
Simen Plejderup was stuck in the queue between Arendal and Tvedestrand together with his cohabitant and child of seven months. He says that the family drove from Kristiansand to Oslo at 1 p.m.
– This is the wildest thing I have come across, he said to VG.
Their car stood almost completely still for 9.5 hours. In front were six or seven lorries, and behind were bulldozers that did not arrive.
– The last time we moved was three hours ago. Then we drove about 300 meters before there was a full stop again, Plejderup told from the queue.
– Luckily we had enough food for our son.
–Around 10.30 pm, Ole-Petter Ruud at Veitrafikksentralen stated that another lorry had got stuck outside Tvedestrand.
– How many lorries have been stuck during the day?
– I dare not answer that, but I think it is a fairly high number. It must be double-digit plus, he said, adding:
– When a lorry has been salvaged, a new one arrives that is stuck. This has been the case all day.
–It’s sent out orange danger warning due to a lot of snow in Telemark and Agder. There can be up to 80 centimeters of snow. The Norwegian Meteorological Institute on Tuesday extended the danger warning to apply until Friday night.
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