Blizzard conditions leave motorists stranded on Maritime highways

A winter storm left motorists stranded on highways across the region.

Travellers stranded on Maritime highways — some overnight — finally got moving on Monday afternoon.

Thirteen vehicles and about 30 travellers were forced to spend the night at the Cobequid Pass toll plaza before being escorted to Oxford, N.S. by plows on Monday, RCMP said.

There were road closures across the Maritimes after yet another winter storm slammed the region with heavy snow, high winds, rain and freezing rain.

Lineups of stationary or abandoned cars were a common sight on the Trans-Canada Highway in New Brunswick, which remained closed between Moncton and the Nova Scotia border until Monday evening.

On New Brunswick’s Highway 15, John Staples and his partner were stuck in their vehicle for nearly 12 hours on Sunday.

“Everything went white and we stopped moving,” Staples said.

The pair were picked up by a department of transportation crew around 10 p.m. on Sunday night.

“I think what to take from this is that unexpected things happen that are inconvenient,” he said.

“Keep your wits about you and persevere through it.”

Drivers who were able to pass abandoned vehicles got stuck themselves, like one trucker travelling eastbound on the Trans-Canada Highway near Salisbury, N.B.

“There’s about four or five miles lined up with cars here,” he said.

In the city, things weren’t much easier.

Moncton resident Justin Young was trying to take his friend to the hospital on Sunday to see her ailing grandmother.

But the blizzard made it impossible — until a convoy of Jeeps came to the rescue.

“I tried to offer them money, whatever, but they wouldn’t take it,” Young said.

With files from The Canadian Press and CTV Atlantic’s Nick Moore