Roughly 72 hours ago, the city of Atlanta was hit by 2 - 3 inches of snow / ice and way below freezing temperatures. As expected (and any native knows, the same thing that happened in '82, '95 and '11) the ice came and created pure gridlock.
Chaos ensued in the commuter city and millions were left on highways and side roads. I've heard hundreds of stories about horrid commutes, people sleeping in their cares / stores / restaurant bathrooms, etc. and I have to say that I got off easy with my 90 minute commute to go 3 miles.
I was unlucky and due to some work commitments, I wasn't able to leave around noon with everyone else and sat in the office until 5 watching the gridlock from the warmth of our 31st floor office in midtown. I considered staying in a hotel or even walking home, but there were no hotel rooms and I just didn't feel walking was going to be the best path across ice.
It felt like we were watching a bad movie until we realized that at some point, we were going to have to force our way home through the carnage. And the sad part is we were laughing about how absurd everything was b/c of a few inches of snow and the lack of preparation by the city / state governments.
After hemming and hawwing a bit, I headed out to my trusty SUV and attempted the journey home. The drive was slow but not too treacherous when driving in low gears. At one point, some ass clown decided to drive fast and pass me ... and he ended up hitting a concrete mail box head on. I noticed that they were ok and then kept on because karma had sealed their fate.
When I made it home, I didn't feel like it was much until I turned on the news to hear all the chaos ... and then the politicians whine on ... and on ... and on ... and on.
Couple of observations:
- All of the politicians are embarrassing. Mayor Kasim Reed is blaming everyone else but he's guilty as well. There was nothing on the roads prior to the storm (I drove on them that morning and there was nothing). And Kasim's national media push to blame someone else is just brutal ... you will get your White House job under Hilary, just hide in the shadows until Obama / Hilary hook you up.
- The governor didn't act and is blaming meteorologists ... yeah, super doplar can only do so much. At some point, you have to just say, its going to snow ... don't goto work.
- The teachers, volunteers, random strangers are the big winners in the storm. So many amazing stories of people helping people. For instance, my friend Frank spent the day pulling people out of ice and driving people home ... and he thinks nothing of it.
- Common sense didn't prevail ... there are too many people and the transportation system is a joke on a perfect weather day. You throw ice into the mix, and you have pure chaos.
- If a real disaster were to occur, we aren't going to make it. Nothing about what's happened in the last 72 hours provides any confidence in local or state government. We already have zero confidence in the federal government so it's pretty much going to be every man for themselves.
- For future storms, be prepared ... be like Jed and wear boots to work and pack a blanket and some water in your car. Better yet, throw in an overnight bag with some liquor and maybe a few gallons of gas ... just in case. And if you are feeling really squirly, throw in some weapons and ammo ... never know when you are going to need them.
