Niclas Nordström, a self-employed truck driver, faced severe snow conditions on Sweden’s E22 motorway, becoming stuck for 20 hours on Wednesday and Thursday. He described the weather as the worst he has encountered in his 30-year driving career.
Having operated his own road freight business since the 1990s, Nordström expected that the traffic jams would have been cleared when he set out. He realized his error around 1:45 PM near Linderöd while finding himself and approximately 1,000 other drivers stuck on the road.
“The traffic jam had already formed long before, and I mistakenly thought the police would have diverted the vehicles,” the 58-year-old shared with The Local. “In retrospect, I should have thought things through better. With more proactive thinking, we could have avoided such long lines.”
As a blizzard swept through, around 1,000 vehicles were stranded on the E22 between Hörby and Kristianstad, prompting the Armed Forces to assist in evacuations and deliver food and water to those trapped.
Though Nordström’s truck features only a day cab, meaning he had no place to sleep, he found himself in a better situation than many in passenger vehicles. En route to Lund and then home to Olofström, he lacked food and medicine and depended on the kindness of others.
“There were all sorts of people there. I made friends with a couple from Holland who assisted me the next day. I expressed my hunger, and they kindly invited me in for coffee and a sandwich,” he recalled.
Throughout the night, Nordström monitored the Swedish Transport Administration’s website for updates on when the road would reopen, but the reopening time kept being postponed—from 8 PM to midnight, then to 2 AM, and later to 2 PM the following day.
Ultimately, around 10 AM, the Dutch couple received assistance from a local farmer who created a three-meter-wide path through the snow, allowing them to exit the motorway. They then drove against traffic down the cleared lane with flashing warning lights until they found a drivable road.
Having primarily driven in southern Skåne and Blekinge counties, Nordström had never experienced snow conditions like those he encountered. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my 30 years of driving. It hasn’t snowed this badly in Skåne since 1979,” he added.
