‘Complete chaos.’ Brothers describe Northland traffic jam as blizzard rolled into KC metro

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Brothers Cameron and Carson Tate left their restaurant job in Liberty at 4:30, p.m. Saturday, usually a 10-minute drive from their home in Kansas City.

But the siblings were caught in Kansas City’s ice storm.

At first, they didn’t see the traffic jams that backed up Interstate 35. Half a mile into the drive, the traffic came to a standstill. There were no signs of police or responders from the Missouri Department of Transportation, only sliding semi-trucks and vehicles along the interstate.

Every exit they approached was blocked off.

“Pretty much everything was just a complete chaos at that point,” Cameron Tate said.

Meanwhile, Carson, 20, was running out of insulin with no sign the two would get home anytime soon.

This would just be the beginning of their five-hour ordeal the night a massive winter storm rolled into the Kansas City area. Car wrecks and slide-offs throughout the metro area caused traffic snarls and chaos, according to state officials

The Tate siblings tried to take an exit to Pleasant Valley Road but it was closed off where a truck slid into a ditch.

When the siblings realized they were stuck at a standstill behind stalled semi-trucks, Cameron, 23, said, they began to worry about Carson’s Type 1 diabetes. They called the local non-emergency number but were placed on hold. When they reached a dispatcher, Tate said, she blamed the Missouri Department of Transportation for not treating the roads in time.

”It seemed like the city was running out of resources, because we called the non-emergency, and we had to call back because they didn’t even have enough operators to answer our call the first time,” he said.

Emergency responders, including MoDOT, were short-staffed yesterday, said Justin Ewing, a spokesperson for the Missouri State Highway Patrol in the Kansas City area.

“Our crews were so over-taxed that they probably didn’t have the manpower to leave someone there to block the ramp,” he said.

MoDOT is currently “several hundred employees down” statewide, according to Melissa Black, a spokesperson from the department. Crew members were working around the clock in 12-hour shifts to salt and clean roads until roads were clear. Workers began salting highways Friday night and continued into Saturday.

Cameron said he could tell the highways were treated but drivers were still sliding along the interstate, causing traffic jams.

The Tates’ vehicle began to run out of gas, prompting them to walk up an on-ramp to a nearby QuikTrip for 30 minutes to grab a can of gas and water for Carson in below-freezing temperatures.

“It was just like…your hands hurt, your face hurt, your everything. It was just terrible,” Cameron said about the journey to the nearby gas station.

When the pair returned, there were still no emergency responders in sight and the cars ahead had barely moved.

It took over an hour and a half for a police officer to show up and redirect traffic away from the truck and just about as long for a tow truck to remove it. The officer didn’t stay for long and left the exit closed, Tate said.

Eventually, traffic began to move once the truck was towed away. Once the Tates made it past Interstate 435, they took an exit to city roads, which Cameron said, were completely frozen.

Carson was able to refill his insulin pump without a medical emergency.

The sibling’s experience mirrors a difficult night for traffic throughout the Northland on Saturday night.

There were several accidents around Liberty, causing traffic to beyond the city limits from north and south Liberty.

Ewing, who was responding to calls in Liberty, said there were several stalls caused by semi-trucks sliding, disabled vehicles and accidents.

The trooper emphasized that even if drivers cannot see why a roadway is closed, it’s for safety reasons whether it be an accident or a slippery route. Ewing said if you name a roadway, there was a significant closure on the road.

At one point in the night, the Kansas City metro had over 15 interstate closures.

On Sunday MoDOT encouraged patrons to stay home unless it was an emergency.

If drivers found themselves stuck, they were asked to dial 911 or *55 for the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Before traveling, Missouri residents can download the Missouri Department of Transportation app for information about road conditions and live cameras of Missouri highways.

This story was originally published January 5, 2025 at 5:28 PM.