Stranded motorists devote nights on freeways following snow blankets South - CNN.comSTORY HIGHLIGHTS...

1. Stranded, cold motorists spend nights on freeways after rare
snow in South
Stranded motorists devote nights on freeways following snow blankets South - CNN.com
STORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: Numerous hundreds at nine Atlanta schools "sheltered inside place"
Atlanta officials urge drivers to become able to stay off streets with regard to twenty four hours
"We've been inside the automobile for over 12 hours," Atlanta resident saysAt least five are usually
killed inside weather-related visitors accidents in Alabama
Are a person affected by the frigid weather? Send CNN iReport your current pictures as well as
video of ice, snow and also sleet should you can perform thus safely.
Atlanta (CNN) -- Whenever snow simply three fingers deep triggers an epic traffic jam, stranding
motorists and college kids upon interstates for hours, there's something very incorrect using this
picture.
Two inches of snow isn't supposed to turn highways in to campsites. Backups aren't supposed for
you to final most day, through the particular night, and also in to become able to the following
morning.
And yet, here these were -- a massive assortment of motorists across Alabama as well as Georgia -still hunched more than within their cars Wednesday morning, feeling the particular aftereffects of
your snow shower which hit your states per day earlier.
In Atlanta, seven students remained as generating their particular approach home on a school bus at
5:30 a.m. ET Wednesday morning -- an entire 16 hours after college let loose and they got on.
Atlanta Public Colleges spokeswoman Kimberly Willis Green mentioned "several hundred students
with nine schools are generally sheltered inside place."
CNN anchor voices Atlanta's frustration
Students struck simply by weather finally home
Southeast storm 'once in a generation'

2. Students acquire snow day, start snow fight
Stranded
Rebekah Cole willing to devote the evening in their automobile on an Atlanta street because the
temperature slid in for you to the teenagers and the girl tank ran low on gas.
She described what your woman had seen most round her as being a "zombie movie."
Streets, highways, interstates gridlocked with folks inside cars and also trucks within the exact same
situation she was at -- stranded around the ice with regard to 8, 10, 12 hours.
She heard an unusual drone regarding voices.
"You couldn't hear where they were coming from," she said. Droves of men along with women had
gotten out of their own cars and were having conversations.
They talked and also walked in between cars covered throughout white powdery snow inside the
dead with the night.
Ten hrs following leaving your ex office, Cole's nine-mile trip house had been barely halfway more
than early Wednesday.
A
man walks via the scene of the multivehicle accident about Interstate 59 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi,
on Tuesday, January 28. A New wave of arctic air that will settled more than your Midwest as well as
Plains spread for the Southeast, bringing snow a quantity of cities.

3. Two
ladies are usually stranded in Louis Armstrong New Orleans international Airport in January 28
following flights had been canceled due towards the weather.
Motorists jam Interstate 75/85 throughout Atlanta on January 28.

4. A
semi slides off the path since the driver attempts to avoid an additional wrecked truck as snow
begins to accumulate about Interstate 65 in Clanton, Alabama, about January 28. Clanton lies
between the capital, Montgomery, and the state's biggest city, Birmingham.
Traffic travels over the highway close to downtown Birmingham about January 28.

5. A
man puts sand on the steps involving his company within downtown Northport, Alabama, on January
28. Northport is near Tuscaloosa inside the central-west a component of the state.
Vehicles are usually backed up on snow covered U.S. Highway 280 inside Chelsea, Alabama, on
January 28.

6. People walk inside the French Quarter within New Ortleans as temperatures drop upon January 28.
With
temperatures hovering around -10 degrees, commuters hold out to acquire a bus inside Chicago in
January 27.

7. The
Duqusene Incline climbs Mount Washington over the frozen Ohio, Allegheny and also Monongahela
rivers within downtown Pittsburgh about January 28.
Steam rises through Lake Michigan in Chicago about Monday, January 27.

8. Workers dump sand across any bridge inside Covington, Louisiana, on January 27.
A
man jumps off any snow-covered sidewalk to always be able to cross a new downtown Cleveland
street January 27. a minor auto accident is actually inside the background.

9. Ice
forms as waves crash over the Lake Michigan shore January 27 in Chicago.
A
strong wind kicks up snow Sunday, January 26, in Vadnais Heights, Minnesota, creating drifts over
roads and parking lots.

10. The
Cincinnati neighborhood associated with Mount Adams can be proven blanketed within snow in
Saturday, January 25.
People walk inside a snow squall January 25 in Trenton, New Jersey.

11. Cars
sit inside drifts as well as plowed snow on January 25 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Icicles frame this shot regarding pedestrians strolling by means of downtown San Antonio about
Friday, January 24.

12. A
North Hudson County firefighter walks in front of an ice-covered vehicle close to a creating the
place where a six-alarm fire has been place out January 24 throughout Union City, New Jersey.
A
tugboat pushes a barge by means of ice around the Allegheny River throughout Pittsburgh about
January 24.

13. Kyle
Malott scraps your ice off his girlfriend's car close to Covington, Louisiana, about January 24.
Ben
Eggart pushes Hannah Graham down the hill from Girard Park in Lafayette, Louisiana, upon January

14. 24.
Ice floats by the Chicago skyline about Lake Michigan about Thursday, January 23. Freezing
temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S.
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temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S.
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Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S.
She left perform Tuesday afternoon as well as was nonetheless being sitting within visitors at 1 a.m.
Wednesday. As she ready to devote the night in their car, the lady hoped it wouldn't operate from
fuel.

15. "If I get gasoline, I will turn the heater on, keep your windows cracked just any little bit," she said.
The gasoline station has been inside sight, as well as it was swamped with people attempting to find
fuel ahead of her.
Then the fuel light in her car went on.
Stranded drivers tell his or her stories
A large problem
Cole's story had been replicated inside the Deep South, from Louisiana, in order to North Carolina,
to be able to Alabama, as snow, freezing rain along with sleet laid down a sheet of thin ice inside a
region not necessarily familiar with such weather.
Motorists rushed home in the extremely first sight of snow, creating a visitors nightmare.
Georgia along with Alabama were particularly hit. Governors in each states declared states involving
emergency.
"I'm eight a couple of months pregnant and possess my 3-year-old along with me," Atlanta-area
resident Katie Norman Horne stated in "SnowedOutAtlanta," a new Facebook web page create to
assist stranded motorists.
"We've been inside the car for over 12 hours. We're fine upon gasoline but is anyone close to around
the road and may occur to possess any kind of food or even some water?"
There happen in order to be 940 confirmed accidents within Atlanta, a lot more than 100 of them
involving injuries, the Georgia public safety commissioner said.
In Alabama, exactly where freezing rain made driving a car perilous, at least 5 people were killed
within weather-related visitors accidents Tuesday. Your governor deployed 350 National Guard
troops to aid motorists.
Stranded travelers sought refuge in strangers' homes, schools, even home Depot, which opened 26
shops to become able to travelers overnight throughout Alabama along with Georgia.
At the stores, some briefly forgot their particular snow woes and also watched movies within break
rooms.
"At 1 retailer they even can opened an indoor garden location to become a quiet location to start
with regard to reading," mentioned Stephen Holmes, the spokesman for that shop chain.
What to do when stuck inside a snowbound car
Unheeded warnings
Everyone had been warned. Atlanta ended up being expecting 1-2 inches. Yet individuals didn't heed
the forecast.
In your morning, when the snow had not arrived, people went to function along with school, just like

16. nothing ended up being coming.
Then it did.
Motorists panicked from around the identical time within the afternoon. They Will clogged your
streets en masse just while they began icing over.
In the finish 2-3.5 inches hit central Georgia. Which might not audio such as much, but it's usually
how much snow falls within the region inside a total year, mentioned CNN meteorologist Taylor
Ward.
Motorists believed they could handle it. They Will couldn't. The Actual spin-outs began.
Early Wednesday, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed gave government part of the actual blame for your
rush directly into traffic following closing schools along with government offices across the exact
same period companies shut down.
"We do consider responsibility pertaining to getting the company enterprise community, the
government and also our schools basically leave just about all from once," he said.
Unexpected eeriness
It's almost all echoed in what CNN editor Mariano Castillo experienced on his way residence coming
from work. His shift ended in the early afternoon, as the chaos began.
"The weather was a excellent equalizer," he explained following sitting throughout traffic pertaining
to nine hours. "Didn't make the difference if a person have the late model Mustang or maybe a
beater van or even a Brinks armored car, the wheels were spinning fruitlessly on the ice along with
slipping."
Abandoned cars as well as stranded big rigs stood as to what appeared to be vehicle graveyards.
Then there had been clearly this unusual sound.
"The unexpected voices of commuters talking and walking between cars on the interstate additional
towards the eeriness," he said.
How snow can be messing with your air travel
Good Samaritans
The catastrophe presented the goodness throughout many people.
People whom lived across the highway handed out hot beverages and also water, as Cole drove by.
"I got tea through some kids, from them in add-on to their mom," your woman said. but it quickly
shown a problem involving its own. There has been nowhere to avoid for a bathroom break. she quit
drinking fluids.
That was obviously a mere inconvenience compared for the circumstance of your pregnant woman
within labor within the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs.

17. Traffic jams upon snow-covered roads stopped the lady through rendering it to the hospital and also
blocked paramedics from reaching her.
That's when a police officer stepped in, helping deliver the infant girl Tuesday evening.
CNN editor Mira Lowe watched as people got out of their cars to help each other get unstuck.
"A trio of guys inside hoodies walking asked the small woman sitting in the automobile around the
facet of the road if your woman required a push," she said. "There was a perception in which we
have got been almost all on this together."
Caretakers
In Alabama, teachers stayed at the rear of to care for students have been stranded.
The severe weather offers forced 4,500 students in order to invest the evening in several school
buildings in Hoover, Alabama. As Well As there were 800 students stuck within schools within
Birmingham, Alabama, officials said.
"Staff is actually staying using them, feeding them," Birmingham city Educational institutions
Superintendent Craig Witherspoon said. "High schools are usually showing movies."
Gov. Robert Bentley urged mother and father who are not in a position to reach their own kids to
remain calm.
"I understand the anxiety there," he said. "I wish to reassure every one regarding the mothers and
also fathers that will if you trust your current teacher to adopt good treatment of your youngster
through the day, these people is going to be taken treatment of tonight."
At the particular Alabama Waldorf School, regarding 20 students had been paying the night in a
neighborhood residence late Tuesday following state officials urged mother and father not to drive
within the snow.
"They're carrying out truly well," Administrator Lisa Grupe said. "They're just through an extended
play date. We just about all looked like ducks walking in the snow together."
On Twitter, a new second-grade teacher stated there possess been nonetheless regarding 150
students and also 50 personnel stranded with Greystone elementary Institution inside Hoover,
Alabama, because regarding "horrible" road conditions there.
Not that they were most complaining.
"Very thrilling day," teacher Carol McLaughlin tweeted late Tuesday afternoon. "... The Actual kids
are now being real troopers. : ) I believe they will consider it's an adventure."
Stay home
In Alabama and also Georgia, authorities requested motorists for you to stay off the particular roads.
"This is a very dangerous situation," Bentley said. "People have to remain at home. They Will must
stay there until circumstances improve."

18. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed urged residents to avoid generating pertaining to no much less than per
day to offer crews a new opportunity to clean up.
"The subsequent 24 hours, I absolutely need folks in order to stay home," he said. "Go home, provide
us with a number of time."
The warnings to not drive came too way gone pertaining to countless people. The Particular
admonitions to produce it residence impossible to end up being able to fulfill.
Early Wednesday, Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed stated 30 salt trucks had been deployed.
Until they clear the roads, motorists could always be stuck in ice for a while.
The way your forecast looks, ice will stick around for a day, maybe two.
CNN's Ray Sanchez, Steve Almasy, Devon Sayers, Michael Pearson, Holly Yan, Greg Botelho, Kevin
Conlon, Dave Alsup, Janet DiGiacomo, Alanne Orjoux, Victor Blackwell, Tom Watkins, Chad Myers,
Sean Morris, Dave Hennen, Joe Sutton, Martin Savidge along with Jareen Imam contributed to
become able to this report.
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