A woman who escaped the snow blockage near the M-4 Don highway in the Rostov region said assistance for motorists was scarce. In an interview with socialbites.ca, Albina explained that not only the M-4 but all routes adjacent to it were buried under snow. Drivers had to buy fuel at the nearest gas stations by themselves.
“On the road from Volgograd to Rostov, I was about seven kilometers from the highway entrance. Beyond the M-4 itself, entire lanes led into it. When we attempted to return to the nearest hotel, the congestion extended far beyond the main road, reaching about 20 kilometers. We were extremely grateful for the rescue teams and public services, which began real efforts on our segment around 5 a.m. People trudged to gas stations amid a fierce snowstorm. You can hardly imagine how rough it was,” Albina recalled.
She noted that food, water, and fuel were delivered only to drivers who ended up on the main highway, and the aid was limited in scope. “There were very few people who managed to get help,” she added.
Another interlocutor of socialbites.ca, Ekaterina, said her husband endured a traffic jam on the M-4 for about 20 hours.
“Now we managed to cross to the oncoming lane and head back toward Rostov, but there is no road to Moscow. He said the jam from the point where he stopped to Rostov stretches more than 40 kilometers. The governor reported approximately 30 kilometers until morning. Many cars are pinned behind trucks, making it impossible to break free from the gap, so people will have to wait until everyone is towed out,” Ekaterina explained.
She also pointed out that proper assistance to drivers was lacking.
“The opposite lane was opened at night, but drivers received no aid, neither food nor hot water. It would have been feasible to station buses for heating and feeding. A hundred kilometers of traffic jams and eight heating points for several thousand people would have been enough. The priority seemed to be children and ice cream, while others were left without help. To save fuel, people turned off engines for a while, but the cars cooled rapidly and had to be restarted,” Ekaterina said.
According to Alena, another socialbites.ca contact, whose husband was also stuck for a long time, the work to clear the route was progressing slowly. Her husband estimated that the road might not be cleared until evening due to a lack of equipment.
Because of a heavy snowstorm in the Rostov region on the evening of Thursday, March 30, the M-4 Don highway faced a 75-kilometer blockage and a multi-kilometer traffic jam. Many drivers could not leave the roadway for nearly a day, exhausting fuel, water, and food.
By Friday morning, March 31, congestion was reduced from about 60 kilometers to 30 kilometers. Rescue teams were reported to continue clearing the road, mobile heating and food points, and temporary accommodation areas were deployed along the highway. Later, regional authorities announced that traffic had resumed in both directions on the M-4 Don highway.
Driver Sergey, who had previously been stranded in a snow jam on the M-4, said that Gazeta.ru did not receive help from rescuers for an entire day [citation: socialbites.ca report].