Self-employed truck driver Niclas Nordström found himself stranded for 20 hours due to snow on Sweden’s E22 motorway, experiencing what he described to The Local as the most severe weather conditions of his 30-year driving career.
Since the 1990s, Nordström has operated his own road freight business. He mistakenly thought the congested traffic would be cleared when he took the E22 on Wednesday. He realized his error, along with approximately 1,000 other drivers, when traffic ground to a halt around Linderöd around 1:45 PM.
“The cause of the traffic jam had occurred long before, so I assumed the police would have redirected the traffic onto other routes,” the 58-year-old said. “I wasn’t thinking clearly. If there had been more prompt action, such extensive delays could have been avoided.”
A blizzard wreaked havoc across the region, leaving up to 1,000 vehicles stranded on the E22 between Hörby and Kristianstad. The Armed Forces were called in to assist in evacuating people from their cars and to deliver food and water to those stuck.
Despite having only a day cab in his truck, which lacks a bed, Nordström managed to sleep while sitting upright. However, he found himself in a better situation than those in passenger vehicles. On his way to Lund in Skåne and then heading home to Olofström in Blekinge, he faced the challenge of being without food or medicine in his truck and had to depend on the kindness of others.
“There were all kinds of people there. I formed a friendship with a couple from Holland who assisted me the next morning. When I mentioned I was very hungry, they invited me in for coffee and a sandwich,” he recounted.
Throughout the night, he monitored the Swedish Transport Administration’s website for updates on when the road would reopen. “The time kept being pushed back—first to 8 PM, then midnight, then 2 AM, and finally 2 PM the next day,” he noted.
Ultimately, around 10 AM, the couple from Holland got help from a local farmer, who cleared a snow passage. They exited the motorway by driving down the opposite lane, flashing their warning lights until they reached a more navigable road. “We both made it out by taking our own initiative. Otherwise, we might still be stuck there,” he said.
Nordström, who primarily drives in Skåne and Blekinge, remarked that he had never encountered snow conditions like those he faced on Wednesday. “In my 30 years of driving, I’ve never seen anything like this. There hasn’t been weather this severe in Skåne since 1979,” he concluded.
