So, I went to work as normal on Tuesday, as did everyone else. I was a little bit surprised that area schools had not been shuttered for the day. After all, they had been closed on previous occasions for a lot less, including two weeks ago for extremely cold temperatures. I could understand that because you don't want children who may be improperly dressed standing out at the bus stop at 7:30 in the morning with temps in the single digits. On this occasion, it seemed reasonable to me that schools stay open as the forecast didn't really call for any accumulation until late in the afternoon and only a dusting at that.
I was at my desk when the flakes started to fall around noon. The office I work in with my father has a great view of a wooded wetlands area out in back of the building. There was a herd of maybe a dozen deer frolicking (and some humping) out there in the weather. They were enjoying it and the view was like a picture postcard (except the humping). We don't get snow events here very often, so most people take it as an opportunity to spend fun time with kids and have a mini winter vacation. After all, surely school would be closed on Wednesday and the kids would pull out the sleds, or boxes, or whatever they could find, and have a great time. Or so I thought.
.jpg) |
| The view from my office today |
My first inclination of trouble was when my dad tried giving me a ride home around 2:30. We could barely get out of the subdivision. There were cars blocking the intersection on North Point Parkway and it didn't really register with me then. We only made it another quarter mile before I realized I was going to have to get out and walk. I had expected that the freeways would be jammed because that's what always happens when people are trying to leave work early for a holiday or a long weekend. But the surface streets? Never seen anything like it.
I took it as an opportunity to embrace the weather. It wasn't that cold and my mom's apartment was nearby, so I went there and put on my warmest winter duds. I pulled out a ski-jacket that had a lift ticket still attached to it from Heavenly in 2004. The walk was only a mile from there and I took my time, waving and talking to motorists who were inching along the roadway. It was fun.
It wasn't until I got back to my girlfriend Lauren's house in Willow Springs that I began to understand the scope of the mess. We turned on the local news and they were showing pictures of massive gridlock everywhere in the metro area. I started to see Facebook messages from friends who had been stuck on the road for hours. Little did I know that some of these folks wouldn't get home for another 20 hours! As the night wore on, many just started abandoning their cars and walking home. They were so frustrated that they didn't care how many miles it took. The residents of the state of Georgia have never gotten so much exercise!
Around 9:30 PM, Lauren and I decided to venture out to Haynes Bridge Road to see what was going on. We had a hard time doing even that because the sheet of ice on her street was a half inch thick. When we got out to the intersection it was chaos. There were abandoned cars littering the sides of the road. There was an accident involving a Fedex truck and stranded school buses. Lots of people were walking. Many with briefcases and many with cases of beer. Area residents were directing traffic as there wasn't a policeman to be found. The word surreal is used way too often today, but the scene was just that. We skidded home on the ice, poured a glass of wine and watched disaster movies for the rest of the night.
Yesterday, we all had time to reflect on what had transpired on Tuesday. As the last people were being rescued from their cars and the last children were finally being picked up from school, or buses and fire stations. The local and national media were blasting the Atlanta city government and the State of Georgia. We were viewed as a national joke and the epitome of "wussiness".
There is no question that we could and should have been more prepared. However, as the blame game continues, I wonder how much more could have been done. The forecasts were not terribly accurate and the school systems acted on the information they had. And the fact is, we live in the South. Should we really invest a lot of money in more salt trucks and plows for something that only occurs every few years? It doesn't make sense to me. This was really a perfect storm of bad timing and bad luck. If anything, it showed how we work together as human beings to help each other out. Heck, Lauren's son Wes used his truck to tow 8 people he didn't know before finally rescuing his girlfriend and getting home at 2 AM.
We can all learn from this, but we should be applauding ourselves and our resolve.
