Md. Crippled By Powerful Winter Storm
BALTIMORE (WJZ)—Abandoned cars are still out there Thursday night, simply parked in the middle of the road. Not only is that a problem, but a lot of roads are still covered with snow and slush. There's concern that much of it will refreeze.
Weijia Jiang has more.
This massive headache will go down in history.
Epic gridlock, thousands of spinning wheels, hopeless drivers.
"We were crying," said Tamika Plumer of Baltimore. "You got grown people crying because we had nothing to do and nowhere to go."
It was a "nightmare situation backing up I-83 all the way into the city for many hours," said Gov. Martin O'Malley.
And the day after the wild thunder snowstorm wasn't much better.
"They towed my car. In order to get it back I had to pay $220 cash," said Susan Crenshaw of Baltimore.
Like hundreds, Crenshaw abandoned her car and walked home.
The parking lot where she left her car is marked "private," but she felt there was no choice. Receiving the fee made matters worse.
"It's just too much money," she said. "We're talking a snow emergency. It came down faster than the snow plows can handle."
"These guys hit the jackpot. It's pretty much like they took a sledgehammer, cracked us over the head, and said 'Take it, or leave it,'" said David Washington of Baltimore.
Vehicles stranded within Baltimore lines were taken to schools for free, but the city Department of Transportation says cars that are left in school parking lots that are not picked up by Thursday night could be impounded by Friday.
"I'm just glad that my car was here; it was horrible. Eight hours. And then once you ran out of gas, it was freezing," said Plumer.
"It was a perfect storm for a frustrating evening," said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
Authorities say rainfall prevented crews from pre-treating the roads.
The consequences are still visible now, and crews are unsure when the mess will be gone.
