By
The Associated Press
RAWLINS, Wyo. - Thousands of stranded motorists sought shelter as a snowstorm shut down 200 miles of Interstate 80 and caused a 12-car pileup east of Laramie on Saturday.
Interstate 80 was closed between Rock Springs and Cheyenne for a second day after cars slid and crashed on the icy asphalt.
Hotels quickly filled with travelers waiting for the interstate to reopen. The American Red Cross expected 2,600 people in two shelters in Rawlins and 200 people at a shelter in Rock Springs.
"We were on our way back from a vacation in Yellowstone and we got kind of caught by surprise here," said Robert Eves, 40, of Erie, Ill., who was with his wife and 2-year-old son at a Rawlins shelter and expected to end up in a sleeping bag on the floor overnight.
The family had been forced to stay at a shelter in Wamsutter on Friday because of an interstate closure, and had gotten only 40 miles before the interstate was closed again.
The storm draped a swath of snow up to 15 inches deep from Encampment to Casper before heading southwest into Colorado late Saturday night. It was expected to taper off by yesterday, leaving behind temperatures in the 50s and 60s today.
"The worst of the accumulations is probably over," said meteorologist Mike Weiland of the National Weather Service in Cheyenne.
That was little comfort to the owners of hundreds of tractor-trailers, campers and cars that lined the interstate and Rawlins neighborhood streets Saturday evening. Truck drivers were asked to not park their rigs close together to avoid carbon monoxide problems, said Brady Fox of the American Red Cross.
About 1,000 people who had been in Rawlins shelters Friday night swamped Interstate 80 when it reopened briefly. The interstate had been shut down Friday from Laramie to Rawlins and closed all the way to the Utah line early Saturday.
A 12-car pileup east of Laramie was part of the reason for Saturday's closure. Two tractor-trailers crashed in the area, and other motorists were injured, but there was no word on how extensively, a Wyoming Highway Patrol dispatcher said.
The closure came as football fans were traveling to Laramie for an evening game between Wyoming and Nevada. Football players were also stuck in traffic, delaying the 7 p.m. kickoff by an hour.
