You Thought Your Evening Commute Was Bad...

Thousands of motorists were stranded for more than eight hours along a section of rural interstate highway in southern West Virginia early Friday after a mudslide caused by heavy rains blocked a storm drain the previous night, flooding the northbound lanes. Traffic backed up for 12 miles along the West Virginia Turnpike about 20 miles south of Charleston, the state capital. Traffic wasn't rerouted, and many motorists along the mountainous route had no choice but to remain in their vehicles overnight.

Motorists posted on social media that they had no information on why the standstill occurred, that they had nothing to drink in their vehicles, and that their children needed to use the bathroom. Nicky Walters said in a telephone interview with the AP that she felt fortunate while she was stuck because she's healthy, didn't need medicine, and had nobody she was responsible for caring for. "But I felt desperate, because I knew that other people needed help," she noted. "People needed, at minimum, water bottles passed out and some snacks, much less information. They needed any lifeline to the outside world, and there was none."

Chuck Smith, executive director of the West Virginia Parkways Authority, said one lane reopened Friday morning, but traffic remained at a standstill for hours. "Traffic should have been detoured to allow drivers an alternate route around the mudslide," Smith said in a statement. "The Parkways Authority takes full responsibility for the failure to reroute traffic and would like to assure the public that this will never happen again." No injuries were reported.

Other reactions:

• "Incredibly unprofessional"—Mitch Carmichael, a former Cabinet secretary at the state's Department of Economic Development who was one of those stuck on the turnpike "for hours, with no relevant or timely info"
• "Completely unacceptable"—Gov. Patrick Morrisey, who added that he has ordered the Parkways Authority "to immediately conduct an investigation and revise its procedures as necessary as a result of this incident."