The self-employed truck driver Niclas Nordström experienced a harrowing 20 hours trapped in snow on Sweden’s E22 motorway during severe weather conditions he described as the worst in his 30-year driving career.
Nordström, who has operated his own road freight business since the 1990s, mistakenly thought that the traffic obstruction would have been cleared when he took the E22 on Wednesday. He realized his error around 1:45 PM near Linderöd, along with approximately 1,000 other drivers when they came to a standstill.
The 58-year-old told The Local, “I assumed the police would have stopped traffic and redirected it because the cause of the jam happened much earlier. I didn’t think it through enough. If there had been quicker thinking, we wouldn’t have had such long delays.”
As blizzard conditions swept the area, nearly 1,000 vehicles were left stranded on the E22 between Hörby and Kristianstad. The Armed Forces were called in to assist stranded individuals, evacuating them from their cars and delivering vital supplies like food and water.
Nordström’s truck features only a day cab, meaning he had no bed to sleep in, forcing him to sit upright at the wheel. However, he noted that he was better off than those stuck in passenger vehicles. On his way to Lund and then back home to Olofström, he had not brought food or medication and depended on the kindness of others for assistance.
He mentioned developing a friendship with a couple from Holland who offered him coffee and a sandwich after he expressed his hunger. Throughout the night, he monitored the Swedish Transport Administration’s website for updates on when the road would be reopened, only to see the reopening time continually postponed.
Ultimately, around 10 AM, the Dutch couple received assistance from a local farmer who cleared a three-meter-wide path through the snow. They exited the motorway by driving against traffic down the opposite lane, with flashing warning lights, until they reached a road that was passable.
Having primarily driven in the southern regions of Skåne and Blekinge, Nordström remarked that he had never faced snow conditions as severe as what he encountered on that Wednesday. “I’ve been driving for 30 years and have never experienced anything like this. Skåne hasn’t seen such severe weather since 1979 when it was completely buried in snow,” he recalled.
