The National Guard came to the rescue of drivers stranded in blizzard-like conditions Thursday night in Renville County.

Local law enforcement requested its help after roads became impassable and dangerous due to drifting snow on a section of highway near Olivia, Minn. Gov. Tim Walz authorized the rescue, declaring a temporary peacetime state of emergency.

Jason Hirschman, a National Guard deputy staff sergeant, was among those called around 8 p.m. to aid stranded drivers. While driving to the Olivia, Minn., armory, he encountered the same conditions that had stopped many of the motorists.

"In my car I darn near didn't make it. The roads were completely covered. I'm just lucky there was no oncoming traffic, and I was able to blast through some of the drifts," Hirschman said.

On his way, he stopped to check on several stranded drivers, including an elderly couple and a car packed with college students.

"When I got farther out, there was a car stranded right in the southbound lane that had four college students in there," Hirschman said. "By the time time I got down [to the armory] they were getting ready to send us out to go recover them."

Hirschman drove a SUSV (Small Unit Support Vehicle) military vehicle used on the two rescues. He and another guard member recovered a total of eight stranded drivers, completing their second rescue mission around 3 a.m. Friday.

Snow drifts 5 to 6 feet deep posed the biggest threat to drivers over the past day, said Jason Matthig, the chief deputy at the Renville County Sheriff's department.

"What happened is we'd run into these drifts, and there would be multiple vehicles stranded," Matthig said.

Hirschman estimates 20 cars were stranded on a stretch of Highway 71 north of Olivia, including semis and a truck full of cattle. The National Guard also assisted local law enforcement agencies in helping the trucks turn around and head south to Olivia where road conditions were better.

The armory maintains its SUSV especially for snow emergencies. The Renville Sheriff's department also dispatched the National Guard last year during a similar incident, Matthig said.

Emma Dill is a University of Minnesota student on assignment for the Star Tribune.