Posted on 01/30/2014 12:07:36 PM PST by Kaslin
It was a winter storm response described as an "epic failure" of government by one national news network.
A midday winter storm struck Atlanta's metro population of nearly 6 million on Tuesday. By early afternoon, hundreds of thousands of commuters had taken to the streets, all at once, in a desperate effort to get home. At the same time school systems dismissed an army of students, many on buses. Government got into the act too, telling workers to hit the road.
But by the time everyone started out, what began as flurries became several inches of snow on the highways and streets of a metropolitan area known for its myriad of highways and byways, as well as a general inability of its residents to drive in snow.
The result was pure panic and chaos. Large trucks started to slide and block most major roads. Many cars were disabled, or worse, involved in accidents that clogged emergency lanes. Tens of thousands of motorists were stuck in traffic, many for more than 10 hours.
Throughout the night, parents searched for children, many of whom who were forced to spend the evening at school. Desperate motorists found cell towers overloaded and cell phones dying.
While state, county and municipal governments all seemed helpless, public citizens took matters into their own hands. As government stumbled, one person on Facebook formed a site known as "SnowedOutAtlanta" where stranded citizens could post their desperate needs and others near them could offer to provide shelter, food or even come to their rescue. Within hours, tens of thousands had joined in the effort. It was an amazing testament to what big government can't do and what "we the people" can get done.
Ironically, this was all taking place as President Obama was threatening Congress, in his State of the Union Address, to use executive powers to get around them to expand government even more. While many Atlantans remained stuck in cars as the sun rose on Wednesday, Obama was off on a tour of other states touting his newest big government gimmicks.
Meanwhile, Georgia's incumbent Republican Gov. Nathan Deal and Atlanta's Democrat Mayor Kasim Reed were holding disastrous press conferences in which Reed was openly combative with reporters and Deal seemed mixed up on his meteorology and what the warnings actually were for the storm.
Perhaps the worst of this political theater came when Georgia's director in charge of emergency response, in front of his boss, told the press that an emergency had yet to emerge Tuesday afternoon as vehicles were stalling and colliding all over the place. That sent Georgia's governor racing to the microphones to disagree with his own director, who clearly let his leader down.
No doubt the political finger pointing will continue for weeks, if not months to come. And for Deal, who faces a reelection challenge from the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, state Sen. Jason Carter, the timing could not be worse.
To their credit, both Reed and Deal ultimately apologized for various aspects of the response to the storm. And to be fair, because of the area's unusual location and weather patterns, Atlantans are often given dire predictions of winter weather, only to learn at the last moment that not a single flake of snow will fall.
The lesson learned from this episode, which will likely cost a fortune in insurance claims, out-of-pocket expenses and costs for government efforts at responding, is that we should never fully rely on government to solve all of our problems.
In the case of Atlanta, the official storm warning was issued long before daybreak on Tuesday. Corporations, schools and government entities could have simply said "stay home." They did not.
So once a crisis arose, private citizens did what government could not. They rolled up their sleeves quickly, used modern technology and with caring hearts took on Mother Nature's mess.
No speeches were made. No staff or palace guards stood between those in need and those who wanted to help. And no taxes were required.
Once again, it was individual citizens who saved the day.
Mine is 2/3’s that size.
I pull the main breaker to the street; plug my generator into the welder outlet in the barn, and let ‘er rip!
I can run everything but my electric range and oven.
Furnace and water heater are propane.
I am so proud of them.
I am, too!
Or just deal with a 50 year storm every 50 years.
I was appalled at just how bad THOSE drivers were!
It was only about 2" of wet snow; but vehiclews were all over the place!
The reality is there is no place for them all to park at once. They gotta keep rolling.
Native born Hoosiers can't remember between storms when they are a MONTH apart! ;^)
I bet you don’t have a fire extinguisher either, or fire insurance. After all, you almost never have a fire...
well obviously it would be more difficult without that. But I managed all my life without the x5 until a couple years ago. most people get on ice and immediately slam on the brakes , especially on hills, that just kills any momentum you have...
Great summary. I’m pinging the GA list to it in case anyone needs to explain what happened here to others
On that note, see my comment here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3117633/posts?page=127#127
I wonder what snow/ice insurance would cost for Atlanta...
I grew up in upstate New York. I literally drove one time through about 8-12 inches of uncleared snow for 5 to 6 miles, my tires propelling me like a propeller of a boat. I *KNOW* how to drive in winter weather.
That said, Atlanta is a different animal. Snow hits, melts, and immediately becomes black ice. Everywhere. Right away.
Without salt or sand treatment — which Atlanta has precious little application ability — these roads are impassible. In fact, I’m leery of WALKING on them.
“That said, Atlanta is a different animal. Snow hits, melts, and immediately becomes black ice. Everywhere. Right away.
Without salt or sand treatment — which Atlanta has precious little application ability — these roads are impassible. In fact, I’m leery of WALKING on them.”
I can’t speak for Atlanta, but it was much the same here (B’ham area). Got up Wed morning and went out in my 4x4 to check things out. Weird. Virtually no snow on the roads. Just a thick(over 1 inch) layer of snow on the roads. It was safer to drive than try to walk or even stand on it.
I’m kinda sick and tired of these Yankee’s Holier than Thou attitudes about Southern drivers not knowing how to drive “in bad weather”. Most of the bottlenecks were caused by 18 wheelers jack knifed trying to get up hills. They are professionals and drive in all kinds of weather.
Snow actually provides pretty good traction. Ice, not so much
We visited family in Erie PA in January 1990, at that time the snowiest month in their history. I was amazed to see that the snow packed down like brown sugar. You could still get traction on it.
Around seven years previously, I was stopped on a bridge somewhere in metro Atlanta that was covered with ice from freezing rain. Cars that had come to a complete stop then began to slide. THAT is some slick.
Whoops. “Over 1 inch layer of ice on the road”
You said that so well! I’m proud to know you!
When I got out of my truck, I could barely walk on the ice (I got some snow studs for my boots now!). Truck was doing o.k. bec. it's large and heavy, with 4WD, limited slip, and the Michelin modified off-road tires. I think it was heavy enough for the tire tread to get down to asphalt.
I still remember SnowJam '82 and the Blizzard of '93 - both of those were memorable, SnowJam particularly so because it hit at 3:00 p.m. and we had the same scene of hundreds of abandoned cars on the freeways. In January 2011 (I think it was) we had ice on the ground for almost a week, but iirc it did not hit in prime time, so to speak.
1973 was also very exciting. There were many trees down from the ice, and my husband-to-be had snow tires on his car (from living in Western VA) and brought provisions to my parents who could not get out of their street.
Never heard of snow insurance, but it should be cheap in Atlanta. My point is; it doesn’t cost a lot to be prepared. There are a lot of uses for a generator besides an Ice storm. Mine provides power at my remote cabin,among other things.
I was just a kid, but I remember the Ice Storm in 1960 in rural Rome. The pine trees were so covered with ice they went off like howitzers in the woods behind our house. We had no power or phone for at least a week. We had heat and cooking with wood, coal and propane. Dad hiked about five miles to the little rock store to get tobacco so he could roll his own cigarettes. From time to time he would crank up the car to listen to the news on WRGA radio.
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