Candid Convos: Weather in Atlanta

Two things: I’m safe & this is an epic fail.

For those of you that have called, texted, and reached out to make sure I’m okay, thank you. For those of you that don’t know, Atlanta looks horrific. Yesterday had to be one of the scariest days of my life to endure alone in my car. Here’s what went down.

We have this thing called meteorologists that told us on Monday that a huge storm was going to sweep the south. Prepare. Beware. Be aware! They said we should see something by late Tuesday morning, early afternoon. Now me being originally from Florida, I don’t care if it’s a mere thunderstorm to a full Category 5 hurricane. When meteorologist say to prepare or evacuate early, you do either or. We have contingency plans in place to make sure people know where shelters are in case they need to take cover. It’s not often a huge storm hits, but worst case scenario: we are prepared. Now, let’s go back to hearing about this snow storm on Monday.

I get extremely uptight around this time and usually tend to make people mad when I tell them that I have no confidence that the city is going to make sure we are safe. We have no real contingency plan if there is something that happens to us. Remember the storm from 2011? Right. Everyone brushes me off, laughs at me, and tells me these storms only happen every 100 years, so there’s no need to panic. I’ve lived through several natural disasters long enough to know when it’s a false alarm. I can decipher those. However, my gut told me not to leave my house because something was going to happen & we weren’t prepared. But trying to be “optimistic” like everyone else and laughing it off, I left. It’s true that storms don’t hit as often here, but that’s no excuse not to prepare every. single. time. I would rather be prepared and something happen than to be unprepared and then left to fend for my life. Which is what happened to me last night.

The snow (which is not the problem) fell right one cue, but by the time I finally left work, the roads were completely gridlocked. I moved 1 mile per hour – no exaggeration needed. It was literally 1 mile per hour. I started seeing people get out of their cars and walking home. I saw school busses with children still on them late at night. Finally I found a short cut to get to the one road that would lead me home. However, once I reached the main road, it was a parking lot. So finally I found another road to get around the traffic. However, the road was so slick, I started sliding down the road, almost hitting several cars in the neighborhood. Keep in mind I’m a native Floridian. I finally made it out of that. So after getting turned around, my husband found a path I could take that looked clear. I went for it and got completely stuck driving. After trying all day and being frustrated, I told him I was done. By then, I had driven in my car for 8 hours & I wasn’t driving anymore & leaving my car there. Immediately, my husband bundled up and began walking to come meet me. We were only 4 miles from our house.

While I waiting, I started yelling for help out my window in hopes a guy could help push my car out of the roadway. I sat on my brake for almost 10 minutes, which kept me from sliding backwards into a wall. A guy walking by finally heard me and came to help. After several failed attempts to move my car, two other guys came by walking with a tire grip. After about 20 minutes, I was able to safely get my car to the side of the curb. I politely got my items out of the car and began walking to meet my husband. In the dark. In 15 degree weather. With my bag, wallet, keys and life.

After another hour or so, we finally reached each other and began walking back home. After walking maybe 3 of the 4 miles in an hour, we hailed a taxi driving by & asked if we could ride. He said it would be $12 to drive us to our destination. I told him we would pay whatever! By the time he dropped us off, it was 12:45 am. Even though the bottom of my feet were completely blue, I had never been so happy to see my house in my life. Unscratched. Unscathed. Almost in one piece.

When I got home, this is what the map looked like:

To set the record straight, it’s not the fact that we are in the south and can’t handle 3 inches of snow. It’s the fact that certain organizations responsible for making sure the roads are salted before this all happened didn’t do so. If I knew snow was coming, they should have too. Although northern states thinks it’s hilarious, it’s no laughing matter. Children had to sleep on school busses last night & parents couldn’t get to them. The apathetic attitude has the focus on Atlanta, yet again, during these storms. And there’s nothing to fear; just be prepared & execute in a TIMELY manner.

Today it won’t get above freezing and my car is still on curbside in a neighborhood & we are appalled watching this tragedy unfold, but I’m safe & sound.

Please keep us in your prayers. Hopefully we’ll get answers instead of {the usual} excuses soon.