Military, Police Rescue 150 Canadians Trapped on Highway in Blizzard

(Dec. 14) -- Canadian military and police rescued 150 people today on a snow-covered highway in Ontario after an unusually powerful blizzard left hundreds of motorists stranded.

A military plane and two military helicopters battled strong winds and blinding snow to help pull dozens of drivers from their vehicles to safety on Highway 402 outside the city of Sarnia, about 65 miles north of Detroit.

The storm trapped nearly 400 drivers on a lonely stretch of the highway overnight, and they struggled to stay warm in conditions Canadian authorities said were extremely dangerous. "We're talking violent winds and heavy snow," Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. David Rektor told Reuters. "Some of these cars are stuck in drifts that are 4 or 5 feet deep."

Sarnia Police check on stranded motorists on London Line, East of Sarnia, Ont., Tuesday Dec. 14, 2010.

Glenn Ogilvie, CP / AP

Police check on stranded motorists on London Line, East of Sarnia, Ontario, on Tuesday.

Rescuers arrived this morning and began offering the drivers rides out of the storm on snowmobiles and 4x4s. Helicopters arrived as well and airlifted some of the motorists in baskets 10 at a time, then took them to warming centers closer to Sarnia, according to the Toronto Star.

There were no reports of any injuries, but the drivers were cold and hungry; some said they were running low on fuel. "We're tight on gas," John Stover told the Star. "We've run the car every hour for 10 minutes."

Others, though, said they preferred to stay put and wait for the storm to pass. "Food, I've got enough for the next day or so, and I've got lots of water. I try to pack extra, especially in the wintertime because you never know when you're going to get something like this," Todd MacDougall, a truck driver, told the CBC.

The Ontario Provincial Police said the best thing to do was to stay off the road. "No one -- underline 'no one' -- should be out driving," Dennis Harwood, a police spokesman, told The Wall Street Journal. "Right now, Mother Nature is in the driver's seat and dictating what we can do and can't do."

By this afternoon, the storm had largely passed, but authorities said visibility was limited. And according to the Canadian weather service, the temperature near Sarnia was only 14 degrees Fahrenheit, with wind gusts of up to 31 mph.