Intense Snow Leaves Motorists Stranded on Portland Highway For Over Seven Hours

Portland, Oregon recently received its second-largest recorded snowstorm with a total snowfall of 10.8 inches. As a result, many motorists found themselves stuck on the I-5 highway for over seven hours. As a result of the intense weather, authorities recommended citizens stay home unless absolutely necessary.

According to a report by KGW8, motorists did not expect to stay in traffic for this length of time. The movement was such at a slow pace that many were only able to travel six miles over the course of five hours. Some motorists even took time to step out of their vehicles to clean off their windshield wipers.

Unfortunately, there were many others that were very unprepared to drive in this kind of climate, like one Prius owner who unsuccessfully attempted to chain up his tires mid-traffic.

Aside from traffic jams, the snow storm also caused school districts to temporarily close, thousands of Portland residents were left without power, and airlines at the Portland International Airport had to cancel 188 flights, and delay 33. School districts across the region are closed and thousands of customers are without power (PGE outages | Pacific Power outages) in the Portland metro area and on the Oregon coast (primarily around Lincoln City) as the state tries to recover from Wednesday’s snowstorm.