Snow Jam 2014

Also known as 'Winter Storm Leon' (when did they start naming every storm?). By now, everyone has heard about the 2 inches of snow that crippled Atlanta and the entire southeast on Tuesday. They predicted a 'dusting' of snow for our area and expected the worst of it to hit south of the city (which we now know was WRONG). At the time, I was pleasantly surprised that area schools remained open and I went to work Tuesday expecting to leave early if daycare closed. Everyone was watching the forecast closely and before lunch, there were flurries all over the area. It was still clear when I went to grab a quick lunch, but it was snowing hard as we walked back to the office. I immediately saw that DeKalb county schools were releasing early and I got an email from daycare that they would close at 4:00. It was only 12:30 at this point, so I purposely waited a bit because my kids had just gone down for nap at school and I had PLENTY of time to make the 5 minute drive to daycare. I started to get nervous as I looked outside and saw all of the roads near the office quickly getting backed up with traffic. I'm thankful I left when I did, because honestly if I had waited another 15 minutes, I probably would not have made it out of my parking deck. City and state officials are still playing the blame game, but the bottom line is that millions of people hit the road at exactly the same time while the road conditions quickly deteriorated. The icy roads caused thousands of accidents and completely blocked any and all roadways, causing the biggest traffic jam in the history of Atlanta. My 5 minute drive to daycare (about a mile) took me over an hour. I had to get creative and drive through multiple parking lots just to get onto the main road. I was relieved to finally make it to daycare and could tell the roadways were getting slick. I left daycare and got right back into the traffic jam. It wasn't too bad until I hit the main road to my neighborhood. It took me 30 minutes to go maybe 20 yards and I considered leaving my car at our church and walking the rest of the way. I walk this often for soccer games, so I know it is exactly half a mile. Keep in mind, I'd be walking through the snow, with a 1 and 3 year old (no stroller) in work shoes. Looking back, it probably would have been the best option because as soon as I passed the church entrance, I was stuck. We sat for over an hour and did not move. That entire time I could see my street, but I couldn't get there. At this point I had passed my last option for safely abandoning my car, so there was nothing I could do. The boys got VERY restless, but we FINALLY made it to the neighborhood entrance and barely made it up my icy driveway with the help of some nice neighbors who were waiting on their children at the bus stop. At the time, I was a stressed and panicked mom and had no idea how bad it really was throughout the city. My 2.5 hour commute (which normally would take no more than 15 minutes in BAD traffic) was nothing compared to what most people endured that day. Chris didn't leave work until later, but he managed to get home in about 2 hours as well (his commute is maybe a mile). I've never been so glad to live close to work before in my life since the whole time, both of us could have walked home. I'm still hearing stories of 13+ hours to go 5 miles, people walking 3 miles or more just to get to a temporary shelter and thousands of people sleeping in their cars, waffle house or with complete strangers who took them in. We had employees sleep in our office after sitting for 6 hours and going nowhere. Children were stranded on school busses or slept in schools and their parents had no way to get to them. I can't imagine that as a mom! I was in total panic mode during my hour drive to get my boys and I could have (and would have) walked if I'd had to! On the positive side, we saw some real heroes and kindness come out of it. People taking in complete strangers or delivering food and water to stranded motorists. That part was truly amazing. We are still cleaning up the mess and I hope officials have learned and will make better preparations next time. I also understand now why school systems proactively close when there is a chance of snow. I'll try not to be so annoyed next time even though it is a huge inconvenience for me and 90% of the time we never see a snowflake. After we finally made it home, the boys had a blast playing in the snow! Pictures of that coming next :). In the meantime, I survived Winter Storm Leon!!