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 The storm, which has killed at least seven people, on Tuesday
swept over a region of about 60 million largely unaccustomed to ice
and snow — stretching from Texas through Georgia and into the
Carolinas — and forecasts called for more freezing weather on
Thursday.
Overnight temperatures in the Atlanta region are expected to remain
well below freezing, with temperatures in the U.S. Southeast
dropping into the teens Fahrenheit (minus 10 to minus 7 Celsius) on
Thursday. That could hinder efforts to clear ice-covered roads and
abandoned cars that litter the region.
Georgia officials said on Wednesday that the real progress in
cleaning up the region would not come until after the icy roads
begin to thaw, which could happen midday Thursday, meteorologists
said.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed came under fire for his response to a storm
that trapped hundreds of children in schools overnight, some without
provisions, and created traffic jams stretching for miles on roads
coated with 2 inches of snow.
"Folks are angry with the mayor of Atlanta, with the governor," said
Flavia DiCesare, 54, who spent the night in her office at Cox
Enterprises in Atlanta, about 30 miles from home.
The mayor said schools, businesses and government offices were
partly to blame for sending all the workers home just as the storm
was rolling in.
"During the day, we have a million to 1.2 million people in this
city, and all those people were out in very bad weather. It hampered
our ability to get our equipment on the ground and to prepare our
roads for that," Reed told a news conference.
"The error — and we have shared responsibility for the error — the
error was letting everybody out at once," he said.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal said all of Atlanta's school children
had been safely returned to their families by Wednesday evening,
with help from the National Guard and State Patrol.
Deal had earlier angered many — including local meteorologists — when he described the storm late Tuesday as "unexpected."
The comments prompted a sharp reaction from many residents — and
meteorologists. In a blog published Wednesday, American
Meteorological Society President J. Marshall Shepherd defended local
weather forecasters, declaring "the Atlanta forecast was very good."
The one-day snowfall of 2.6 inches ranked as the 20th heaviest in
Atlanta, which has recorded a daily snowfall of an inch or more 55
times since 1928, according to the National Weather Service.
"SCENE FROM 'WALKING DEAD'"
The city's highways became parking lots and thousands of motorists,
still stuck 24 hours after the storm hit, were seeking help and
food. Workers who could not get home were setting up makeshift
accommodations in stores and offices.
The roads, littered with stranded cars, looked like a scene from the
television show "Walking Dead," said DiCesare, who spent the night
in her office with about 100 other employees. "It looks like zombies walking on the side of these roads," she
said.
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Predicted or not, Wednesday's sudden cold snap stunned the city.
"We're in complete gridlock down here," said Steve Rose, a police
captain in Sandy Springs, Georgia, during Tuesday evening rush hour.
"It's kind of embarrassing, but we got 3 inches of snow and we're
screwed."
About 800 traffic accidents were reported in the city, but there
were no serious injuries, officials said. At least five deaths in
Alabama and two in Georgia were blamed on the weather.
Latasha Wade, 38, said she was awaiting word of her 31-year-old
brother, last heard from Tuesday night after his car was stranded in
Atlanta.
"I don't know if he's laying out in the snow or what," she said.
"It's the most hurtful thing because I don't know anything that's
going on with my brother."
The storm took a toll on air travel across the region, with more
than 2,600 U.S. flights canceled and hundreds of others delayed,
according to flight tracking website FlightAware.com.
Nicole Lynch, 22, a student at Kennesaw State University, was among
the Atlanta motorists who found themselves stuck in frustrating
traffic snarls.
"They should have at least warned any sort of road crew, or taken
some precautions. They should have canceled school a lot sooner than
they did," Lynch said. "It's a lot of shudda, cudda, wuddas."
A Facebook page called "Stranded Motorists Help Jan 28, 2014" which
has more than 10,000 members, amassed entries from frustrated
drivers and volunteers trying to come to their aid after the daylong
gridlock in the Atlanta metro area.
Rachel Richter, 30, said she finally abandoned her car, after
sitting in a traffic jam for six hours.
"It was more the frustration that it was just complete gridlock.
Nothing was moving at all," she said. "You moved like an inch in two
hours."
(Additional reporting by Karen Jacobs in Atlanta; Verna Gates in
Birmingham, Alabama; Ellen Wulfhorst in New York; Kathy Finn in New
Orleans; and Harriet McLeod on Charleston, South Carolina; Writing
by Jon Herskovitz; editing by Gunna Dickson and Lisa Shumaker)
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