Snowpocalypse.
Snowmageddan.
Tuesday, Jan. 28 started like any other morning, with me texting with my mom and sister. I was on my way out the door, at 6:00 am, when this conversation happened.
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I was expressing that since school was not called off, I hoped the storm passed us. Also, notice I was not concerned about snow. I was concerned about the ice and the sleet.
The morning was fine. I talked with the kids about how to act when it did start to snow. I told them it would be fine to look out the window, but not to start screaming, and they all said they wouldn't let it distract them. Yay. Right. It started snowing at my school at 11:55. I know this because I was picking my kids up from lunch, and when I got there the kids were all staring out the floor to ceiling windows, watching big, fluffy flakes fall down. I have to admit it did look pretty.
We got an email from Atlanta Public Schools that said they would be releasing middle school at 1:30, and then elementary and high would release at normal times. It was about that time that I started chatting with some of my parents who were coming in to pick up their children. I had one child leaving about every ten minutes. Maybe this was bigger than I was making it out to be.
At 2:30, our regular dismissal time, our Principal got on the intercom, and let us know that dismissal was not going to be normal. The buses that had been sent out for the middle school runs, were out there, somewhere. We only had two buses that we could dismiss. We were told to hold our students in our room until their buses arrived, or they were picked up. Finally, I poked my head out into the hallway and started chatting with other teachers. This was bad. The city was grid locked. I put an Andy Griffith Show on for my remaining 14 kids, and went on Facebook.
Post after post was reporting hours long in the car. Some had left their offices around noon, and had not even made it a mile. Others were reporting cars being abandoned on hilly side roads.
What. Was. Going. On.
I started packing my school bag, and reassured my students who were left, that everything was fine, just some buses were late because of those stinky middle schoolers. My kids mostly just wanted to sit on the couch by the window and look at the snow.
A few more of my kids were picked up, and a bus was called. I was down to 8 kids, when our Principal came back on the intercom and explained that we were to meet with our grade teams and figure out who had the farthest to drive. Teachers who didn't live close to the school, were to send their kids to another teacher's room, and then hit the road.
This was a hard decision for me. There was only one other teacher who lived farther out than me, and she didn't feel she had enough gas to get to a gas station in grid lock. I am extremely protective of my kids, as I have many with special needs. It was an agonizing decision for me. My colleagues told me I had to get on the road. I had a son at home. I had a ways to go. I sent my remaining kids to another teacher.
A huge saving grace for me, was that Jacob has Tuesdays off. Cade and Jacob were at home. I called Jacob at 3:04, after I had wiped my car off, and let the defroster melt the ice on the windshield. I was headed home. I told him it was going to be awhile. But like me earlier he didn't understand why. I explained to him, as I drove down the school's winding driveway, that the road in front of the school was packed with cars. I know the area pretty well, and I had mentally been thinking about what route I should take home. I had one way which was highway. I had three other ways that were surface streets. I figured the surface streets would be my best bet.
I got into a neighborhood, which was quite hilly. I was following a few cars as we wound around the streets. As I ascended one of the longer hills, it was then, that I first felt the tires under me lose traction. I know what to do. I am an experienced winter driver. I turned my wheel slightly to the left where there was some fresh powder, hit the gas with a steady, but assertive push, and up the hill I climbed.
Traffic was at a stand still. I would go maybe 4 mph for 10 seconds or so, and then I would be at a stop for another 4 minutes. There were quite a few hills in the first part of my route. As I came up on the our other school campus, I saw two buses outside of the entrance. Getting stopped in the middle of the hills was stressful. As traffic would inch forward, you could hear people spinning their tires. I would see people start to slide backwards, only to slam on their brakes. Cars were jerking their wheels to the side. As I finally inched past the buses, I noticed they were stuck. I made my first call back to a teacher I knew who had stayed back at school. I reported to her, I had left almost 45 minutes ago, and I was just passing our other school, which is a 15 minute walk away. I told her the kids who were left should call their parents and the parents should work with one another to walk up to the school. The buses could not be relied on, and traffic was a nightmare.
Because of the slow movement I was on Facebook, texting, emailing, and calling the entire time. My car, which is a crossover, front wheeled drive, seemed to be handling the slush/hills decently. Thank goodness I knew the treads on my wheels were fine, as that was a Michigan trait I never got rid of. I was making jokes on Facebook about having on "patient panties" for the commute home. I still thought that once I got out of Buckhead I was sure it would lessen. I just had to get out of Buckhead. It would normally take me 10, maybe 15 minutes.
While I was crawling though the side streets, I was checking in on my kids. I was emailing with parents. I was trying to find kids, that didn't get off the bus. Cell service was cutting in and out. Cell towers were overwhelmed. I located each child that we thought was "lost". I learned that a bus had picked up, and then the kids came walking back to the school, because the bus had gotten stuck. The staff still there were going through rooms to find snacks for the kids. Families that could walk to the school were bringing food for the kids. Everyone was still accounted for 3.5 hours into my drive. At that time I was finally offically out of Buckhead.
I had come to the part in the drive where I could continue down a surface road, which was next to the highway, or I could get on the highway. From where my car was sitting I could see the highway inching along, at what looked like faster than what I was. It was so hard to decide what to do. Highway. Major surface road. Highway. Major surface road. For some reason I decided to stick with the surface road. It was hillier, but I had about 30 minutes of daylight left. I was sure I would make it home.
As I made a right turn on to Cobb Parkway I heard on the radio that I75 at Cumberland was now considered impassable. I would have been right there, if I would have gotten on the highway. I felt good about my choice. I was losing day light fast. The temperatures were dropping quickly. I could feel, what was slush, under my car turning solid. I struggled up two more rather large/long hills. Cars were on the side of the road all over. People were just out standing on the side of the road. What is normally a six lane road, was down to two, both heading North, even though we were driving in the Southbound lane.
As darkness hit, as far as I knew my students were all taken care of. Jacob and Cade were safe. I just had to get home. As annoyed as I was at the time spent in the car, I was getting even more worried about the ice. The ice was now extremely visible, and it wasn't thin, black ice. This was 2-3 inches thick, and covering the entire road. It had stopped snowing, so there was no powder to help with traction. I would wait at the bottom of a hill, until the car in front of me was far enough ahead, and I would just push the gas. There were no longer lanes. It was whomever could get their car up the hill, in whatever fashion. I was swerving past cars that were spinning tires, sliding backwards, stuck, or abandoned. My fingers clutched the steering wheels, and my legs had begun to shake, as I was holding my muscles very tense.
5 hours into my normally 30 minute commute (with traffic), I had made it to our local mall. I was just half way home. Cobb Parkway is known for its rolling hills, and as I crested, what would be my last hill for that evening, I could see only an array of hazard and brake lights. I waited on Cobb Prkwy for about 20 minutes. I didn't move anywhere. I called Jacob on the phone and we were discussing other routes. There were two other ways home. I had to get to the other side of the mall. I wove through cars, and got into the only mall entrance that had a downhill. I slid across the lot, literally. I couldn't stop for speed bumps, stop signs, and as I made it around a right turn, I spun the car in a 360.
I got on the road behind the mall, and to my surprise, and slight elation, the road was nearly empty. I went toward, what we call the Chuck E Cheese hill. Steep, and right after a bridge. I couldn't believe my eyes when I got there. Cars scattered everywhere. I stayed far enough back, I started on the gas in the middle of the bridge. I made it 1/3 of the way up, and started spinning sideways. I slammed on the breaks, and threw my hazards on. I knew I could get out of this mess. Or at least get off of the hill, but there was already a group of three cars that had done the same thing behind me. As my eyes moved from the rear view mirror to front, I saw a large van sliding sideways towards me. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't move anywhere. I was on the phone with Jacob as I braced for the impact. When I say this van didn't stop but a few inches from my car, that might be an understatment. Slowly the cars behind me, let off the brakes and slid down the hill. I was able to do the same. The van that was now backwards, and sideways just put their car in park, and was getting out, as I manovered my own car back down the hill.
I had one more way home. I had to get up a hill to the light on the other side of the bridge. I made it that far. I took a right turn, and while I was going downhill I actually hit the gas, in hopes that I would make it up the next hill. Again, it was scattered with a dozen cars in all directions. I made it half way, and I went from going forward, to hearing my tires trying to grip, to going backwards. I had to swerve my car around two others, as even though my anti-lock breaks were pumping I was gaining speed as I helplessly slid backwards. As I came to a rest at the bottom of the hill I told Jacob through frustration "I don't know what to do".
Every way I knew how to get home had hills. Some worse than I was trying. The area behind the mall was so dark. I was feeling helpless. I had never been in this sort of situation. What was I going to do? The darkness scared me more than sitting in traffic, so I headed back through the mall parking lot to get back into the traffic on Cobb Prkwy. I hung up with Jacob. Frustrated. He had told me to get one of the hotels around the mall. Are you serious? I have battled for over 5 hours. I am not staying in a hotel right down the road from my house. It can't be this bad! I called my dad and Gary. They were at a loss as to what to say. I had a small thought in my mind. Lauren, who watches Cade on Wednesdays, she said she lives around the mall. She might know another way home.
Lauren answered her phone, and as she suggested ways I try, I had to let her know I already tried that, or I can't get there because of this. Her scenarios led to, why don't you just park your car and walk to my house. What? Am I going to be one of those people who abandons their car? I had already passed the entrance to the mall with the only down hill. The other entrances all had steep, short uphills. I was in the lane to get on the highway. My thought was the highway wouldn't have as many hills. As I talked with Jacob about my options, he reminded me if I did get on the highway, getting home was not going to happen. Our neighborhood, and the surrounding area is very hilly. Most of them long, steady inclines. The words "I don't know what to do" kept spilling out of my mouth.
I could see my last entrance to the mall. I hadn't moved forward in over 10 minutes. The other side of the parkway, which normally had oncoming traffic, was littered with cars, abandoned after trying to get up the hill, I was presently praying my brakes didn't give out on, as I faced downward. I sucked in my breath, and turned my wheel a sharp left. I hit the gas. I went over the median, slid down sideways, until I was at the exit of the mall. I hit the gas, and as my tires spun. I yelled out loud. I got up the exit ramp, and took another sharp left. As I tried to make the hill, people walking up the hill were slipping/falling down. I just kept yelling, and stepped harder on the gas. I made it up the hill, back through the mall parking lot, and just picked a spot to park.
The road that I had tried to drive on only an hour before, was complete ice. I walked/ice skated across it. I made my way to Lauren's. I spent 5.5 hours in the car, and made it about 7 miles. I was giving up. I hadn't made it home.
It was an icy walk to Lauren's house. Lauren made me feel like I was at home. As I tried to settle in, it was hard to stop my mind from whirling. Did all of my kids make it home? Were there still teachers at school? What happened to the teachers who tried to go home? My phone was buzzing all night. Our last student was picked up around 11:30pm. No idea how many kids were home, or stuck in cars somewhere. Teacher friends who lived by me, never made it home. Some were still on highways. Others had left their cars and were at friends. Some teachers spent the night at student's homes, as they never made it out of Buckhead. Facebook was constantly updating on my phone. We found a group called "snowedoutatlanta" It was a place that people could post where they lived and that they could help, or people could post where they were, so others could help them. I was so thankful I had decided to get out of the car, and that Lauren was willing to take me in. On the news we heard hotels/motels were filled, but were allowing people to stay in their lobby's. Restaurants were staying open and letting people sleep in the booths. Most Home Depots and Rite Aides were staying open and welcoming anyone who could make it to them. People offered their homes, thier food, their phone chargers. Others were roaming the highways by their houses with bottled water, and snacks.
I still had no real emotions when Lauren and I decided to call it a night around midnight. My mind and body was still on over drive with worry and stress.
When I awoke on Wednesday, I was confused. I wasn't at home. I was safe. I hadn't brushed my teeth since the morning before. I was sleeping in running gear. I was warm. How had this happened? I turned on the news. Nothing had changed. We were still under a deep freeze. People had slept in their cars. Not just people, families. Parents who finally made it to daycare or school to pick up thier children and then tried to get home. Children, parents, teachers had slept on gym floors. Others had walked miles home, after being in their cars for 10 plus hours. Some children were still on school buses, just stuck in the elements. Cars were abandoned everywhere. The weathermen were predicting that we would not get over freezing.
Then the blame game started. Whose fault was it? Everyone was pointing fingers. My Facebook, and text messages were still going crazy. Too many people still trying to get home, 19+ hours after the storm started.
Jacob had been called into work around midnight. He had gone outside to check out the situation, and his car was iced into the driveway. There was no way he was getting out. To find out, he wasn't the only officer unable to get to work. Officers were working many hours of overtime, because no one could get in to relieve them.
As the sun beemed down through Lauren's window I made a plan. No longer would I not know what to do. We thought of the non-hilliest way home. We thought about alternatives to those plans. We discussed timing. We talked about where to park my car if I couldn't get to my neighborhood. My plan was to try and drive 6 miles towards my house, and get as far as I could. My goal was to get to a Kroger that was about 1 mile away from my house. I dressed in layers, from my running gear, in case I was in for a long walk home. I just couldn't sit and wait at Lauren's house anymore. I started the icy walk back to my car.
When I got back in my car I felt like I was coming down from some trauma. I guess I hadn't realized how much the night before had really affected me. I calmed my breathing, and started on my way. The sun had melted enough of the ice that I could get some traction. Also, someone had dumped a lot of dirt, on most of the major roads. There were cars everywhere. Again, there were no lanes. No driving on the right side of the road. To go 5 miles it took almost 30 minutes, and I was one of the only ones out there on the road. I had been talking to Jacob throughout the morning, and I knew our neighborhood entrance, which is a rather steep hill, was covered in thick ice. However, many men of the neighborhood had been out chopping at the ice with gardening tools, which helped melt the ice when the sun did start shining down. I was able to ride the breaks all the way into my neighborhood, and I parked on the road. Jacob was out chopping ice, and he carefully climbed up to the road, and that hug was overwhelming. I was home.
20.5 hours after I had left work, I had made it home. When I made it inside, I couldn't stop the tears. I was finally able to let my mind and nerves down. I was home.
So what are my thoughts? Many people have text or asked when I would have a blog out. I wanted to start yesterday. I couldn't get my words to go together in way that would make sense. I still hadn't made sense of it all.
Could this all have been avoided? To an extent. I, whom am a peasant of the education world, knew the snow was going to hit around 10am. That makes me think that the superintendents of Atlanta, and the metro knew the same information. Had they called off school, all of those kids wouldn't have been out there. Parents wouldn't have been trying to pick up their kids. All of those high schoolers wouldn't have been on the road, plus all employees of the schools would have been at home. That alone would have put a dent in the traffic.
Did I make the right decisions? I don't know. Part of me still wishes I would have stayed with my students. I can look back now and say if I had stayed I wouldn't have made it as far as Lauren's, leaving me with no one in the area I would have been in. I would have been one of those people in their car, or walking a distance to a gas station. I did make the right decision to park my car in a parking lot, and give up for the night. As much as I hated giving up, it was the smart thing to do. As my friend Katie wrote to me "I haven't ever felt that helpless and panicked in my entire life. I had the same conversation with Jace (her boyfriend). "I don't know what to do." And that is not part of my personality. Very humbling."
Whose fault was it? I don't know. If you listen the mayor of Atlanta he says the big issue was everyone leaving at the same time. He then goes on to say that the city of Atlanta was cleared early Tuesday evening, and he doesn't oversee the interstates. If you listen to the governor you hear him saying he didn't know it was going to snow in Atlanta. If you listen to Al Roker he blames them both.
I actually agree with Al Roker to an extent. All of the officials made a gamble. The bet that the snow wasn't going to hit metro Atlanta. That goes to say all of the mayors of all of the different "metro" areas. All of the superintendents clearly took the same gamble. They lost. I hope in the near future we hear the higher ups taking responsibility, and then coming up with the game plan for next time.
This article really says it best. This showed us that the Atlanta area is not ready for if/when an emergency arises. I am hoping the leaders of this metro area will be able to learn from the mistakes that have been made.
Can Southerners drive in the snow? Yes. They can not drive in the ice. But for that matter neither can all of the Northern transplants that are here. No one can.
So what the "bleep" did happen? There is this southern phenomenon that happens in cold weather. Our air temps go under freezing, and we get snow. The snow falls on the ground, but our ground temp is still in the 50's. All of the snow melts, and turns to liquid. But then it keeps snowing and accumulating, so everything becomes slushy. As long as the sun is out, we are okay. But as soon as the sun goes down, all that liquid and slush freezes. The entire road is covered with ice. We have 40 salt/dirt trucks, and 30 plows. The plows can't do anything with sheets of ice. The salt/dirt trucks got stuck in the same traffic we were all in. In the north it stays cold enough that it is just snow on the road. Snow can be plowed, and salted. It wasn't snow that messed up the city. It was the ice.
What did I learn? I still have parts of me that are Michigan.
I always have water in the back of my car.
I rarely let my gas go below the 1/4 mark.
I am pretty smart when it comes to figuring out routes that have places to get off. Had I taken the highway I would have been stuck walking a lot further than I did. If I hadn't known Lauren, I had at least moved my car into an area that had restraunts, and hotels. I could have had options if I needed them.
I am so thankful for my run bag. In there I had another pair of shoes, sock, shorts, capris, run tights, long pants, a sports bra, tank top, t-shirt, and two long sleeves. I essentially had a pair of clothes to change into at Lauren's, something to sleep in, and clothes to help layer up as I treked through the ice and snow. Had I needed to go further, or sleep in the car, I would have been somewhat prepared.
Always keep a phone charger in your car. I had my phone plugged in the entire time I was in the car. When I got it out to go to Lauren's it was at 100% battery. Again, had I been somewhere where I needed it to get communications through I would have been okay.
Never underestimate ICE. Northerns can talk all the sh*t they want to, but had they been here it wouldn't have been any different. No one can get up hills that are covered in inches of ice. So don't pretend you could have. Even four wheeled drive vehicles with chains on their tires, were having trouble navigating.
There is still anger towards the leaders of Atlanta Public Schools. They took a gamble. And it went bad. Very bad. The last of our students were delivered home at 5:30 pm, Wednesday. There are no excuses. With their decisions, or should I say no decisions, they put WAY TOO MANY kids in harms way. Along with the danger that they put their employees. I have yet to hear anything from the superintendent. There are children that went through some kind of trauma. Be it staying the first night away from their parents, being a bus that was in an accident or was stuck, being cold and hungry. Stress presents itself in many different ways in young children. If we have school tomorrow, all teachers and staff will be dealing with the after math. Calming young minds, easing their nerves, and reassuring them that school is a safe place, and that we would do anything we could to protect them. The community of Atlanta Public Schools is owed something.
And last I will end with, even though our leaders did not make very good choices, the people of metro Atlanta stood up and took over, so we could find the best in the situation we were in. People went to the highways to give out water and snacks. Others opened their homes to strangers. Businesses did whatever they could to help people. The communities went out and broke up the ice. They did what they could around their own houses to help out. I was one of those people helped out. I will forever be grateful to Lauren. I can't wait to pay it forward.
So that is it. SnowJam. Snowmageddan. Snowpocolypse. Whatever the name you want to call it. It was an adventure I hope never to repeat.
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