It was 8 a. m. Kathy, a 25-year-old nurse, had just finished a 12-hour night shifts at a hospital. She was tired, but glad to be sailing along highway to where she lived. Although the local government had posted a snow alert(预警), the calm grey sky convinced Kathy the drive would be safe. "I figured I'd be in bed in an hour, " she says.
Snow began when she was halfway home. Listening to the radio, Kathy learned the highway was closed because a tractor had slid off the road. She texted some friends and her mom, and tried not to sleep as she waited.
After a couple of hours, however, conditions worsened. Strong winds began rocking Kathy's car. She couldn't see anything outside, and snow was drifting up her doors. "It was, "she says, "a total whiteout and rows of cars and trucks. "
Late in the afternoon a police officer came and asked if she was in any difficulty. She said she was fine. She asked the police officer if there was any way to get past the trucks. "No, ma'am, " he answered. "You're not going anywhere. "
Once as it got dark, Kathy began to worry. She texted his brother Cris, telling him to drive snowmobiling buddy(雪地汽车)to get to the highway and find her.
As Cris rode slowly alongside the rows of cars and trucks, people would roll down their windows and ask for help. "I was the first person they'd seen in six hours. " He explained he was picking up his sister. He told them, "Nobody's coming and I can't take you. "
Near 10 p. m. Cris reached Kathy. He directed Kathy to pull her car onto the shoulder(紧急停车带)and asked her to get into his snowmobiling buddy.
As they headed for home, the fun started. About five kilometres into the journey, Cris made a mistake. What he thought was a shallow ditch(浅沟)turned out to be a deep trough(水槽). Instead of coming out the other side, they just kept going down. They were trapped. And feathery snow was over their heads.
Paragraph 1:
At that moment, they had to take action and get out.
Paragraph 2:
When Kathy arrived at her home, her mother was waiting for her.
