Woman taking friend for cancer treatment describes her, others spinning on SH 45

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Cars, fire trucks and even tow trucks are losing control on the icy bridges in and around Austin.

One Central Texan, Mary Stone, was trying to get a friend to MD Anderson Cancer Center Tuesday morning for her cancer treatment, but ended up spending hours stuck on the bridge because of the icy conditions.

Coming from Buda, Stone got on State Highway 45 to get to Bastrop but lost control of the vehicle. The car spun around, facing oncoming traffic, but eventually ended up by the embankment. In front of them was a fire truck that had also slid on the ice.

“We hit the bridge and it was just pure ice,” Stone said. “I was going slow, so we just kind of slowly spun around and slid into the barrier.”

Stone called 911 to ask them to close off the roads because she was scared they would get hit by oncoming traffic that could not see them behind the fire truck.

Another car went by Stone and she said it ended up in a ditch behind her car. Stone said everyone who made it past them eventually had to stop moving because of ice on the bridge. As she spoke to KXAN Tuesday morning, she described seeing in real-time a tow truck sliding.

“Oh my God, the tow truck just spun out,” she said, holding her hand over her mouth.

Stone said an officer came by to see if they were OK and said he would try to get Stone and the fire truck out once the sand trucks arrived, Stone added. She described how he was sliding around as he walked to check on them.

“Stay home. Just stay home,” Stone said. “You don’t want to be stuck and people can’t get to you.”