More than 1,000 people in Japan for forced to spend and evening in their cars on a motorway this weekend, waiting in a traffic jam with little food or water during a heavy snowstorm.
Reports of traffic jams on the Kanetsu Expressway between Tokyo and Niigata prefectures showed hundreds of people stuck in traffic. Authorities closed the entrance to the road to avoid traffic jams but there was still a massive tailback forming.
The traffic jam started after a car got stuck in deep snow in the middle of the freeway, bringing traffic to a halt, according to the country’s road operator, Nippon Expressway Company (NEXCO).
The central and northern regions of the country were hit by heavy snowfall that morning, disrupting traffic and causing the loss of electricity in some communities.
Traffic accumulated on blocked motorways; Later that day, traffic jams stretched for 15 kilometres, NEXCO told CNN. Some sections of the long line of traffic could move slowly with starts and stops, but some motorists stayed put for more than 40 hours until they eventually were freed and able to travel for their Christmas holidays.
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