KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WOWK) — It was extra long drive home for drivers on the West Virginia Turnpike after flash flooding caused the road to close down for hours.
The West Virginia Turnpike experienced flooding Thursday night, shutting down the Northbound lanes in the Sharon-Dawes area around 9 p.m. The lanes did not re-open until just after 5 a.m. Friday morning.
Drivers stuck on the 12-mile back up reached out to 13 News.
Nicky Walters, one of those stuck drivers, said that information was poorly communicated to them. However, she hopes that this can spark conversations on changes that can be made to avoid this back up from happening again.
“But, I started recording the videos, because I knew I was living in an experience and a moment that was going to be important later,” Walters said. “And, I sure hope it is, becomes something that we talk about again, because we’re fortunate that it wasn’t 98 degrees and an inferno of heat like it was earlier in the day, because people would have, people would have been in medical peril if that would have been happening.”
Walters shared videos with 13 News of the stand still and of West Virginia State Troopers working to wake up drivers after the overnight stoppage.
Walters said that this reminded her of when the Turnpike previously had a large shutdown back in 2009, where drivers were stuck for hours due to a blizzard.
“Back in 2009, when people were stuck there under much more perilous circumstances than this one, well, they were stuck in a blizzard,” Walters said. “This conversation was raised then and some things were modified then. But, I just hope that this shines a light on the fact that obviously that wasn’t enough.”
Walters said many people supported those stuck on the Turnpike, and drivers worked to support each other and pass along information.
“And, I’m sure that, you know, that’s a West Virginia spirit of something to do,” Walters said. “So the people that were well, to try to find out the answers for me that I could, you know, get to other people. I really loved people jumping into action because, you know, even when official word is scarce, West Virginians will figure it out.”
The executive director of the West Virginia Parkways Authority, Chuck Smith, said in a statement that there should have been a detour created for the stuck drivers.
“Traffic should have been detoured to allow drivers an alternate route around the mudslide,” Smith said.
The statement also said the Parkways Authority is looking toward solutions to prevent this from happening in the future.
“We are grateful that there were no injuries as a result of the flooding and traffic stoppage. The Parkways Authority takes full responsibility for the failure to reroute traffic and would like to assure the public that this will never happen again,” Smith said. “At the direction of Governor Patrick Morrisey, the Parkways Authority is already examining and revising its policies on Turnpike closures and detours as a result of this incident.”
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