Niclas Nordström, a self-employed truck driver, was stranded for 20 hours on Sweden’s E22 motorway due to heavy snow on Wednesday and Thursday. He described the conditions as the worst he has faced in his 30-year driving career.
Nordström has operated his own road freight business since the 1990s. On Wednesday, he mistakenly believed that the blocked traffic would be cleared when he took the E22, only to find himself and around 1,000 other drivers stuck near Linderöd around 1:45 PM.
“The reason for the jam had occurred much earlier, so I just assumed the police would have already stopped the traffic and rerouted vehicles,” the 58-year-old shared with The Local. “But I didn’t put much thought into it. If we had exercised better judgment, this situation could have been avoided, and those long queues wouldn’t have formed.”
Approximately 1,000 vehicles were trapped on the E22 between Hörby and Kristianstad as a blizzard struck the area. The Armed Forces were called in to assist in evacuating stranded drivers and delivering food and water to those still stuck.
Nordström’s truck is equipped with only a day cab, meaning it lacks a sleeping area, forcing him to sleep upright in the driver’s seat. However, he noted that his situation was still better than that of those in passenger cars.
On his way to Lund in Skåne and then back home to Olofström in Blekinge county, Nordström had no food or medicine with him. He had to depend on the kindness of others for help. “I connected with a Dutch couple who helped me the next day after I mentioned how hungry I was. They invited me in for coffee and a sandwich,” he said.
He spent the night monitoring the Swedish Transport Administration’s website for updates on when the road would reopen. “The expected reopening time kept getting pushed back. It changed from 8 PM to midnight, then to 2 AM, and finally to 2 PM the next day.”
Eventually, around 10 AM, the Dutchman received assistance from a local farmer, who created a three-meter-wide path in the snow, allowing them to exit the motorway. They drove against traffic but found it safe since there were no other vehicles. “It was our initiative that led to our escape; otherwise, we could still be stranded,” Nordström added.
Operating mainly in the southern counties of Skåne and Blekinge, Nordström admitted he had never experienced snow conditions like those he faced on Wednesday. “I’ve never encountered anything remotely similar in my 30 years of driving. Such severe weather hasn’t affected Skåne since 1979 or so, when the whole region was snowbound.”
