They were stuck that long, with many people just abandoning their vehicles. No food or water. Everyone in my family has an emergency pack in their trunk for the winter, wherever we live.
I got stuck on a bridge for 7 hours in the summer going to the Shore. The Bay Bridge crosses over at Annapolis, MD. A truck was trying to avoid hitting a grl that crossed over the line and he would have killed, so he turned the truck towards the cement barrier and the truck went into the water. He was killed in the accident. That one broke my heart.
BTW, they speculated the girl had fallen asleep at the wheel and crossed into his path. If she had taken her responsibility a little more seriously, she wouldn't have gotten in a vehicle tired like that.
Back to the people on I-95... That storm was not out of nowhere. It was on the news, they just didn't see it when they got up to go to work, there was no snow. It came on the way to work. That is why so many people got stuck. thousands on the road.