So, Lena, you've been up there all day long.
You know if they they say if you
stay in one place long enough,
you'll see the whole world pass you by.
And I know you've seen a lot of
mayhem on the roads up there.
Yeah, we absolutely have Rob and
that snow has not stopped one,
but it is absolutely still coming down
on us at this hour and it's only gotten
thicker over the past couple of hours
just to give you a better idea of just
how dangerous these road conditions are
where we are parked right now at the
Cisco Grove exit right off of I-80.
This is where Caltrans had their chain
controls checkpoint set up up until
about an hour ago all morning long
and they had just moved those chain.
Controls much further down the highway.
About an hour ago,
just to warn people about how
dangerous these conditions are,
but I wanna give you another look
over here on this side to show you
just how many semi truck drivers
this has stranded during this storm.
We have maybe three or four,
maybe 5 right behind us at this
point in time. It was well more.
It was definitely a lot more
than that earlier this morning.
But for now I want to show you
a little bit more of what these
drivers stuck in the snow.
Had to say.
Truck after truck stuck in what appears to
be a graveyard of semis is bad up here.
I wouldn't advise anybody to
come up unless you have to.
Many without chains, one pop tire. Ohh no.
So sorry and one stuck in neutral at
a Cisco Grove gas station along I-80.
You know, 10:00 o'clock last night,
and I've been stuck here ever since.
We don't even drive in snow.
The company I work for,
we don't carry snow chains at all
because he don't like us doing it.
So they what happens. Darrell
Matthews retired from driving
trucks for 13 years last year and
just recently came back to work
to this amid a worker shortage.
Mike would another day too,
because they can't get a tow
truck up in here. This blue truck
right here? He's trying to get
out on rubber tires and he's not
going to get up that little hill.
Charlie Hicks on his daily track
from Sacramento to Reno wasn't
taking any chances by pulling
into the same lot that other
truckers appeared to be stuck in.
It was just a mess up here.
I parked on that downhill so I could
get going again and it it didn't
want to move off the downhill.
And while he was lucky enough
to get his truck out,
others left behind offered
a word of wisdom for drivers
braving the brunt of the storm.
Do not go nowhere near us. Do you?
On the side of the trolley get away from us?
That's all and don't follow us.
Don't be in front of us,
that's all the real simple because we
couldn't see you guys after time anyway.
Have no idea you're back there.
Now we may
not see very many other semi trucks
coming up here today because Caltrans
says all commercial vehicles are now
being turned around at Applegate
and the Nevada state line because
of traction issues over the summit.
A key indication of just how dangerous
these conditions are right now
off of I-80 in the high country.
If you are headed up this way,
if you wanna take that risk,
you are going to want to be prepared.
Make sure you have chains with you,
a go bag snacks.
And some extra patience to wait in
traffic here along the highway,
we're going to give you another
look at these conditions coming up
in the next half hour back to you.
Yeah, a couple of things,
Lena, a question for you.
It seems like there's a lot more snow
there now at 1106 than when we last
left you in the 6:00 o'clock hour.
I mean like way more.
And also you could always tell the
truckers who either don't want to chain
up or who don't have change change
because they're parked right there.
Oh yeah, yeah, that's so true and
we've seen so many of them like one
of the gentlemen we interviewed.
He said his truck isn't
even equipped with chains.
His company does not provide them
because they don't want to see
their drivers working in the snow.
So that's just his opportunity to pull
over and wait for this to subside.
Yeah, now
got a good spot there.
At least he could get some snacks and
pull over and gas up if he has to.
Lena Howland. Thank you.