ELIZABETH, Colo. — Stranded motorists were still being rescued from cars in Elbert County 24 hours after being stranded during Wednesday’s blizzard.
The cars started piling up like dominoes in some parts of the county during the storm.
John Braddock was headed home from work when he slid off the road while going up a hill.
“The wind was blowing so hard, you couldn’t see the road at all. The whole truck was rocking when I was in it, so it was crazy, crazy wind,” he said.
Visibility was essentially zero in many areas.
“There were drifts over the hood of my truck,” added Braddock.
“There were times I couldn’t even see the end of the truck. You couldn’t see the front end of the truck,” said Jim King, another stranded driver.
Braddock ended up stranded and alone for 15 hours. Fortunately, he had food, water and a full tank of gas.
“I was well prepared to stay there a long time if I had to,” he said.
The National Guard finally came to Braddock’s rescue at 3 a.m. Thursday.
“Once I saw that snowcat, I was happy,” he said.
He was taken to a shelter at Frontier High School in Elizabeth, where he encountered 148 other people who were rescued from the roads.
The Blystone family was caught stuck in the storm while returning home to Kansas after a vacation with their five young kids. They were forced to spend not just Wednesday, but also Thursday night at the shelter.
“They’ve been pretty decent, a little better than I thought they would be,” Kasara Blystone said in reference to her kids.
Jim and Andrea King are trying to get home to their two kids.
“I’d like to go home and sleep in my own bed and take a hot shower,” said Jim.
It’s an epic adventure that brought strangers together in a small Colorado town, and it isn’t over yet.
“It’s been an experience and I don’t want to repeat it again,” said Jim.