Kerrville, Texas, nurse Carol Buettner found herself stuck on I-10 after icy conditions caused multiple crashes on the interstate.
Published Feb. 5, 2022 5:08 PM EST | Updated Feb. 7, 2022 3:21 PM EST
As a winter storm made its way through Texas, sleet and freezing rain fell in many locations across the state. In Kerrville, Texas, nurse Carol Buettner had just started her commute home following a 12-hour shift when road conditions turned harsh.
It was just after 6:00 p.m. local time last Thursday, when Buettner started her usual commute home on Interstate 10 in Kerrville, Texas. On most days, her drive home would only take 35 minutes.
From the start, her commute on Thursday was slow as icy conditions impacted the highway. At 6:30 p.m., things became a near stop-and-go. “You'd go a little bit, stop, go a little bit, stop,” Buettner told AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell.
As the extremely slow commute continued, Buettner saw hope that she could exit soon. “I saw the sign that said one mile to an exit that I could take and we crept a little bit more.”
But before she could exit, everything stopped.
Backup on Interstate 10 after two crashes halted traffic. (Kurt Schlunegger via Storyful)
It was now just after 9:00 p.m., Buettner’s commute was already over two hours long and her hope was dwindling on being able to exit soon.
“I was boxed in…there were rigs on the shoulder, rigs in front of me, rigs beside me, rigs to the back of me,” said Buettner.
Farther along the interstate, a semi-trailer jackknifed and caused traffic to completely stop for miles. At one point, the interstate was closed in both directions from the crash, according to San Antonio Express-News.
After stopping, Beuttner checked her GPS to see how far the next exit was. “I was 0.3 of a mile from that exit,” she said.
Beuttner was now trapped in her Kia Sport in the cold, icy weather. At one point, her car thermometer read 9 degrees outside. Beuttner tried turning her car off to save fuel, but had to turn it on again soon after.
“I left it on because I turned it off once, and it just got too cold,” said Beuttner.
Carol Buettner speaks about the ordeal with AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell. (AccuWeather / Bill Wadell)
Beuttner had filled up her gas tank prior to her commute home on Thursday, but as the minutes turned to hours, her tank burned between a half and three quarters of a tank just so she could stay warm.
By 9:30 p.m., two crashes had occurred on Interstate 10 near Kerrville, Texas. The second happened when a tractor-trailer attempted to slow down due to stopped traffic from inclement weather. The trailer ended up colliding with a Ford F-350 pickup truck, seriously injuring two occupants. The crash also resulted in one person being fatally injured.
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Wreckers that could handle towing semi-trucks were unavailable to the Kerr County area, according to CBS Austin. This further delayed clearing the scene.
The standstill would last several hours through the night and into the next morning. Finally, traffic started to creep slowly forward after the morning sun rose.
Carol Beuttner trapped on Interstate 10 a.m. on Friday morning. (Carol Beuttner via Storyful)
"It finally crept up enough that I could get over on the shoulder, in front of the diesel that was on the shoulder, and I just took the shoulder down to the exit," said Beuttner
Finally, at about 9:00 a.m. the next morning, Beuttner was home.
"[My dogs were] in their crates since 4:00 a.m. yesterday because I left early, because we had already had two nurses not be able to make it. It was like 9:15 a.m. when I walked in and let the dogs out."
Beuttner told Wadell that it seemed like nothing was done to treat that stretch of highway.
"I'm angry with the fact that they kept sending out notices saying prepared for this weather...and I'm like, 'Some of us don't have a choice. We have to drive,' and they didn't do anything to get the roads ready?"
TXDOT told Wadell on Friday morning that the section of I-10 had been pretreated and treated for ice, but ongoing freezing temperatures caused driving conditions to remain hazardous.
That stretch of I-10 was reopened to traffic by Friday afternoon.
Additional reporting by Bill Wadell.
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