The self-employed truck driver, Niclas Nordström, found himself stranded by snow on Sweden’s E22 motorway for a grueling 20 hours on Wednesday and Thursday. He described the conditions as the worst he has experienced in his 30-year career.
Having operated his own road freight business since the 1990s, Nordström had naively assumed that the traffic congestion on the E22 would have been resolved when he set out on Wednesday. He, along with approximately 1,000 other drivers, realized too late that they were stuck around Linderöd at about 1:45 PM.
“The jam had been caused some time earlier, so I figured the police would have already halted traffic and redirected drivers,” said the 58-year-old to The Local. “But I didn’t put much thought into it. If there had been more quick decision-making, this wouldn’t have happened, and the queues wouldn’t have been so long.”
As severe blizzard conditions swept through, nearly 1,000 vehicles were trapped on the E22 between Hörby and Kristianstad. The Armed Forces were called in to assist stranded motorists by evacuating them and providing food and water.
Nordström drove a truck equipped only with a day cab, leaving him to spend the night seated at the wheel. Fortunately, he fared better than those stuck in passenger vehicles. Despite his situation, he lacked food and medicine on his journey to Lund in Skåne, so he depended on the kindness of strangers.
Amidst the chaos, he connected with a couple from Holland who offered him coffee and a sandwich after he mentioned being very hungry. Throughout the night, he kept checking the Swedish Transport Administration’s website for updates on when the road would reopen, only to see the times continually pushed back.
Eventually, around 10 AM, a Dutchman he met received assistance from a local farmer, who carved a three-meter-wide path through the snow, allowing them to exit the motorway. They proceeded to drive in the wrong direction on the opposite lane, flashing their warning lights, until they reached a passable road.
“We both managed to drive out through the gap, going against traffic, but there were no vehicles, so it wasn’t risky,” Nordström recalled. “It was our initiative that led to our escape. Otherwise, we might still be stuck there.” He added that he had never encountered snow conditions quite like those over the past days in southern Skåne and Blekinge, recalling that such severe weather hadn’t struck since 1979.
