BREAKING: Stafford declares state-of-emergency after highway closure, storm

[Updated 8:50 p.m.] Stafford County declared a state of emergency following a snowstorm that buried it under more than a foot of snow.

The county’s secondary thoroughfares and sidestreets snarled due to a continued closure of Interstate 95 that left thousands of drivers stranded overnight. The declaration will trigger much-needed help from the state’s emergency management.

Since the storm’s onset early Monday, January 3, law enforcement and fire and rescue crews have been working 14-hour shifts on county streets. While answering calls for help, some became trapped in their vehicles due to fallen trees, ice, and snow.

“I’ve been out with public safety personnel, and this storm has proved to be a disaster,” said Stafford County Board of Supervisors Chairman and Rock Hill District Supervisor Cyrstal Vanuch.

Vanuch said she called the Virginia Department of Emergency Management late last night. County Administrator Fred Presley issued the declaration about 4 p.m. today.

On a press call earlier today, Virginia Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Lauren Opett said one Virginia jurisdiction “may have requested help,” but she wasn’t more specific. In a follow-up email Opett sent to Potomac Local News tonight, the jurisdiction did not ask for support from the National Guard.

She did not say which jurisdiction asked for help, and added it was not Stafford County.

Opett added it is the responsibility of local jurisdictions to request help from the National Guard, implying it was not the governor’s responsibility to have guardsmen and women on call.

Officials took heat today after Gov. Ralph Northam chose not to deploy the National Guard on Monday night after a series of tractor-trailer crashes snarled traffic for most of the day. At 4 a.m. Tuesday, officials closed the highway between Dumfries and Ruther Glen, near Kings Dominion, to clear vehicles from the highway.

Many without food, water, and depleting fuel supplies, many abandoned their vehicles searching for shelter. In Stafford, officials converted Stafford Senior High School into an emergency shelter at 63 Indians Lane next to the highway.

I-95 reopened to traffic about 9 p.m., ending a 17-hour closure.

Mother Nature dropped more than a foot of snow on many areas of the county. Between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m Monday, two inches of snow fell per hour.

Forecasters say another three inches of snow could fall Thursday night, January 6.