Drivers Stuck In Snow Spend Night In Cars: CBS4 Helps Them Escape
GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4) — Heavy snow and sheets of ice along roadways created hazardous and at times impassable driving conditions in northern Colorado on Tuesday. CBS4's team traveled throughout Weld and Larimer Counties following the storm and found many drivers having difficulty navigating the roadways.
One woman said she spent the night sleeping in her car as conditions worsened through the night.
"It was really bad. I couldn't see very well and I was swerving," Delia, who wished not to provide her last name, said. "I got stuck in the snow, and I am still stuck the next day."
Delia spent more than 12 hours in her vehicle awaiting help. She was running low on gas so she didn't run her vehicle for warmth throughout the night.
"It was cold. Because I didn't want to run my car too much. I would have eat it up and wrap myself in a blanket. It was cold," Delia told CBS4's Dillon Thomas.
Thomas spent time trying to push Delia out of the parking lot she was stuck in along US 34. The sedan wasn't able to make it more than 10 yards without getting stuck again. Delia said her water bottles had frozen in her car overnight.
A call to Colorado State Patrol and the Weld County Sheriff's Office ended in Delia getting the assistance she needed.
Meanwhile, in Fort Collins, many were avoiding going out on the town, which caused a spike in sales and business for local restaurants and delivery drivers.
"Snow days are always busy. People don't wanna go out in their driveway, but we'll go in," said Kate Young, a delivery driver in Fort Collins.
Roads crews throughout the region spent the entire day clearing streets, interstates and sidewalks.
Truck drivers like Brandt Thomas said the highways and interstates were largely clear, though traffic was moving slower.
He encouraged people to drive slower and give truckers space, noting that his commute was peppered with spun-out commuter vehicles, while semis driving slower were able to pass through easily.
"The roads are slick in some spots but it's mostly just people that don't know how to drive are slowing everyone down," Brandt Thomas said. "We are at work out here. We aren't out driving to parties and all that stuff. So the best thing you can do is stay away from the big trucks."