I was on my way to an 8 a.m. exam at Lambton College. I had left early to make it in time from London. Traffic was slow, then as I approached Oil Heritage road on the 402, I made the decision to try and get off the highway. The off-ramp was blocked by a jack-knifed tractor-trailer, so I continued on the 402 for about a kilometer before traffic came to a standstill. There was a snowplow in the ditch and traffic stopped where it was on the highway. I had a classmate with me, we found out the exam had been cancelled and figured we would just wait it out until traffic started moving again. It didn't. After a few hours, we had 2 other travelers join us from other vehicles who were running out of gas. We shared some frozen food one had brought and I got out a few time to make sure the tailpipe was clear. I called by husband, parents to let them know the situation and called by boss at work to give them the heads up that I wasn't going to make it in that night. I was also 6 months pregnant with my second child.
Around p.m., I called into the OPP, gave them my name, phone number and make of my vehicle. I stated I was 6 months pregnant, without water and limited food but that I had left London with a full tank of gas. I was told I would be put at the top of the priority list. By 9 p.m., no word or sighting of any OPP or military. A snow plow came by, raising our hopes that we would soon start to move, however when asked, they stated they were there to rescue the stranded plow driver.
We passed the time by talking, watching movies on my van's DVD player and chatting on the phone to friends and family. The next morning, around 10 some people came around on snowmobiles with water for the people stranded. By this point, my gas tank was getting low so I hopped on the back of one of the snowmobiles and went to the service station on Oil Heritage Road. I purchased some food, used the restroom, filled up 2 Jerry Cans with gas and took a snowmobile ride back to my vehicle, where I filled it up, ate and stayed until OPP finally showed up at 1:00 p.m.. We were evacuated from our vehicles, taken across the highway to the Eastbound side and piled onto school busses. Once on the bus, we were told we were being taken to Petrolia, however our bus driver explained Petrolia shelter was full, Strathroy was our next option only to be told Strathroy was getting the brunt of the storm as was also full. In the end, we got back off the buses into our vehicle and slowly drove into Sarnia.
I contacted Lambton College with the situation and they set us up in Residence for the night. Since then I have always kept an emergency kit in my vehicle and will only leave during storms with a full tank of gas.
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