{"id":1400706,"date":"2026-01-28T15:15:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T20:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thenewsherald.com\/?p=1400706&preview=true&preview_id=1400706"},"modified":"2026-01-28T15:26:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T20:26:00","slug":"icy-highways-leave-drivers-stuck-in-mississippi-as-freezing-us-temperatures-persist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thenewsherald.com\/2026\/01\/28\/icy-highways-leave-drivers-stuck-in-mississippi-as-freezing-us-temperatures-persist\/","title":{"rendered":"Icy highways leave drivers stuck in Mississippi as freezing US temperatures persist"},"content":{"rendered":"

By RUSS BYNUM and JEFF MARTIN The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Emergency crews and National Guard troops worked Wednesday to clear cars and trucks stranded on ice-covered highways in Mississippi, where stalled traffic had begun piling up overnight, as the eastern U.S. endured what forecasters said could become its longest period of freezing cold<\/a> in decades.<\/p>\n

Traffic remained snarled on Interstate 55 and Interstate 22 in northern Mississippi at mid-day Wednesday, many hours after problems began when plunging temperatures Tuesday night caused the highways to refreeze. Roadside cameras operated by the Mississippi Department of Transportation showed semitrucks and pickups bumper-to-bumper on stretches of I-22 lined with snow.<\/p>\n

Helping stranded drivers and moving stalled vehicles \u201cremains a top priority,\u201c Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said in a social media post. The Mississippi National Guard said citizen-soldiers equipped with wreckers began arriving before dawn to help clear I-55 and I-22.<\/p>\n

In the small community of Red Banks, Mississippi, local authorities were asking people with all-terrain vehicles to bring water, food, blankets or gas to stranded motorists, said Lacey Clancy, who works at a cafe near I-22 and neighboring Highway 178.<\/p>\n