UPDATE 10:55 a.m.: McCracken County Emergency Management director Jerome Mansfield says Kentucky State Police and the McCracken County Sheriff's Department have extended the I-24 closure to mile marker 7 at Lourdes Hospital. Mansfield says this move will help crews clear I-24 more efficiently.
Kentucky State Police say hundreds of drivers are stranded on a more than 80-mile stretch of Interstate 24.
Gov. Steve Beshear’s declaration of emergency has freed up National Guard personnel to help evacuate those stranded. KSP Post 1 public affairs officer Jay Thomas says the back-up begins at mile marker 11 and stretches all the way to the Tennessee state line.
"Road conditions are treacherous and people should stay in," Thomas said.
McCracken County Emergency Management spokesman Beau Dodson said a few wrecks early Thursday morning caused the Interstate to shut down.
“With snow coming down 1, 2, 3 inches an hour, there was really no way to fix the situation other than to close the Interstate,” Dodson said.
Dodson said many are also stuck on I-24 waiting to get into Kentucky from Illinois and Tennessee. Crews are working to clear roads but Dodson said it is going to take while before cars can be cleared from the road and snow plows can get through.