'Very grateful': Good Samaritans help stranded commuters during B.C. snowstorm
Good Samaritans came to the aid of commuters during the harrowing snowstorm that rocked B.C.’s Lower Mainland Tuesday night.
For Alisha and Carl DeLeon, it was a night filled with distress as they both attempted to make it back to their North Delta home.
For Alisha, who is 36 weeks pregnant, her drive from New Westminster took 10-and-a-half hours.
"Really uncomfortable and the unknown is frustrating,” Alisha, who was stuck near the Queensborough Bridge told CTV News.
“I tried to look up some information on how long I might be there,” she said.
“We have two other kids here too so we weren’t sure when we’d be able to come home to them,” she added.
Meanwhile, her husband Carl was stuck in his own vehicle up near the Alex Fraser Bridge.
DeLeon says she had run out of food, causing her blood sugar to drop, creating an even direr situation.
However, she says at around 1:30 a.m. some Good Samaritans came to the rescue.
"They hopped over the meridian and were handing out tea and desserts to cars who had been sitting there a long time,” Alisha said, adding the gesture was "very helpful."
For Carl, who waited anxiously for his wife's arrival after he finally got home after 1 a.m., the kind act certainly isn’t going unnoticed.
"We just really want to say thank you to them whoever they are and for whatever reason they did that,” he said. “It was really a blessing for us because that could have been a much worse night,”
Meanwhile, a Sikh temple in Richmond also stepped up, letting hundreds of stranded commuters stay the night.
Among them was Rajveer Bhatti, who was stuck on a busy bus for hours.
“Phones were dying, people started panicking,” she told CTV News.
Bhatti said she thought about trying to get an Uber, but decided to join others on the bus who made the 15- minute walk to the nearby Nanaksar Gurdwara Gursikh Temple.
"They provide us a hot drink, they provided us a phone charger so we can connect our phones to call our parents and inform our families,” Bhatti said.
She says they were also provided with a hot meal and a place to sleep.
“That was kind, we were very grateful they did all of that hospitality for us,”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING | U.S. considering plan to down Chinese balloon over Atlantic
The Biden administration is considering a plan to shoot down a large Chinese balloon suspected of conducting surveillance on U.S. military, by bringing it down once it is above the Atlantic Ocean where the remnants could potentially be recovered, according to four U.S. officials.

Marit Stiles officially confirmed as Ontario NDP leader by majority vote
Marit Stiles has been confirmed as the new leader of the Ontario NDP after a majority of party members voted in favour of the lone candidate.
W5 Investigates | Daniel Jolivet insists he's not a murderer and says he has proof
Convicted murderer Daniel Jolivet, in prison for the past 30 years, has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested. W5 reviews the evidence he painstakingly assembled while behind bars. W5's documentary 'Buried Evidence' airs Saturday at 7 p.m. on CTV.
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a spy balloon from China? Here's what we know about the balloon so far
The massive white orb drifting across U.S. airspace has triggered a diplomatic maelstrom and is blowing up on social media. A look at what's known about the balloon crossing the U.S. and what isn't.
Dozens of soldiers freed in Russia-Ukraine prisoner swap
Dozens of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war have returned home following a prisoner swap, officials on both sides said Saturday.
Poor oral health could affect the brain later in life: early study
An early study has shown keeping your gums and teeth healthy may have added benefits for your brain health.
Oldest preserved vertebrate brain found in 319-million-year-old fish fossil
The oldest preserved vertebrate brain has been found in a 319-million-year-old fossilized fish skull that was removed from an English coal mine over a century ago.
In Tyre Nichols' neighbourhood, Black residents fear police
In a terrible way, the death of Tyre Nichols brings vindication to members of the Black community in Memphis who live in terror of police.
One in four Canadian cancer patients still experiencing cancelled appointments: survey
In the field of cancer treatment, nothing is more important than diagnosing and treating the problem as quickly as possible — but according to new survey data, about one in four Canadian cancer patients report that they are still experiencing cancelled or postponed appointments.