Self-employed truck driver Niclas Nordström found himself stranded by snow on Sweden’s E22 motorway for an exhausting 20 hours on Wednesday and Thursday. He described the conditions to The Local as the worst he has faced in his three-decade career.
Nordström, who has owned a road freight business since the 1990s, mistakenly assumed that the traffic jam would have been cleared when he joined the E22 on Wednesday. He, along with about 1,000 other drivers, realized the severity of the situation when they came to a standstill near Linderöd around 1:45 PM.
“I thought that the police would have already redirected traffic since the issue had arisen earlier,” the 58-year-old shared with The Local. “I didn’t think it through; if everyone had acted more swiftly, we wouldn’t have faced such long lines.”
Up to 1,000 vehicles were trapped on the E22 between Hörby and Kristianstad due to a fierce blizzard, prompting the Armed Forces to step in to assist stranded motorists with evacuations, as well as providing food and water.
Nordström’s truck is equipped only with a day cab, meaning he had to sleep upright in the driver’s seat. Despite this discomfort, he acknowledged that he was in a relatively better position compared to those in passenger vehicles. However, he lacked food and medication during his ordeal, relying heavily on the kindness of others for assistance.
Among those he met was a Dutch couple who offered him coffee and a sandwich after he expressed his hunger. Throughout the night, he continuously checked the Swedish Transport Administration’s website, which kept pushing back the expected reopening time for the road.
Eventually, around 10 AM, the Dutchman he had befriended received help from a local farmer who cleared a three-meter-wide path in the snow. They both drove against the traffic down the opposite lane, using their hazard lights until they found a road that was passable. Nordström noted, “It was only our initiative that allowed us to escape; otherwise, we would still be there.” He added that he has never encountered snow conditions as severe as those he faced on that day, recalling that such weather hadn’t occurred in Skåne since 1979.
