Tokyo (CNN)More than 1,000 people in Japan spent Thursday night stuck on a highway in their cars, waiting out a traffic jam with little food or water during a heavy snowstorm.
Reports
of the traffic jam, on the Kanetsu Expressway connecting Tokyo and
Niigata prefectures, began emerging on Wednesday. By the early hours of
Thursday morning, authorities had closed the highway entrance to
alleviate clogging.
The jam began
after a car got stuck in deep snow in the middle of the highway,
grinding traffic to a halt, according to the Nippon Expressway Company
(NEXCO), the country's highway operator.
The
country's central and northern regions had been hit with heavy snowfall
that morning, disrupting transit and causing some communities to lose
power.
Traffic built up on the
stalled highway; at its peak on Thursday night, the jam stretched to 15
kilometers (about 9.3 miles), NEXCO told CNN. Some segments of the long
traffic line were able to move slowly with starts and stops, but some
motorists remained stuck in place for more than 40 hours.
Hundreds of vehicles stranded due to heavy snow on the Kanetsu Expressway on December 17.
The
jam continued through Friday; the lanes coming from Tokyo eventually
cleared, but the lanes heading into the capital were still halted. As of
noon on Friday, there were still 1,000 cars stuck.
And around their vehicles, stranded amid snow-covered fields. 
Some
limited relief came on Thursday when emergency responders passed out
rice balls, bread, crackers, sweet snacks, and 600 bottles of water, as
well as thousands of liters of gasoline and diesel oil.
But it wasn't enough, with drivers stuck for many more hours in the cold.
"The snow was extremely heavy. As time went by, the cars got buried. I was really scared," one unnamed driver told Japanese public broadcaster NHK. "I've eaten all of my food and drinks. Now, to drink water, I have to melt snow I collect in a plastic bottle."
A woman in her 30s and a man in his 60s
were taken from the jam to hospital for respiratory problems and nausea
on Thursday, according to Niigata's crisis management officer, Tsuyoshi
Watanabe. No fatal or serious incidents have been reported so far.
Watanabe
added that the prefecture has asked for the Japan Self-Defense Forces
to be dispatched to provide water, food, gasoline and portable toilets
for the people still stuck on Friday, and to help clear away the snow.
NEXCO
is also warning drivers, through social media and over the radio, to be
careful of the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning while waiting in their
cars for hours at a time.
Prime
Minister Yoshihide Suga has met with ministers to discuss the heavy
snowfall, calling on local officials to work together to restore
services and help those affected, NHK reported.
This story was updated to reflect that the traffic jam started on Wednesday.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/18/asia/japan-traffic-jam-intl-hnk-scli/index.html
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