Things promised
to be different Tuesday, when another round of rain, sleet and freezing
rain was expected to begin walloping the area.
That's
not necessarily because city and state officials are going to be better
prepared — although they promised they would be — but because many
people aren't going to take a chance that they will get trapped again.
"Basically,
everyone from the office is going to be working from home" on Tuesday,
said Dakota Herrera as he left a car park in downtown Atlanta to go to
his office Monday.
Atlanta has a
long and painful history of being ill-equipped to deal with snowy
weather. Despite officials' promises following a crippling ice storm in
2011 that they would be better prepared next time, the storm that hit
the area Jan. 28 proved they still had many kinks to work out.
Georgia
Gov. Nathan Deal indicated on Monday that he and other state officials
had learned their lesson. Before a single drop of freezing rain or snow
fell, Deal declared a state of emergency for nearly a third of the state
and state employees were told they could stay home if they felt
conditions were too dangerous. Schools canceled classes, and Deal urged
people who didn't need to be anywhere to stay off the roads.
Tractor-trailer drivers were handed fliers about the weather and a law
requiring chains on tires in certain conditions.
"We are certainly ahead of
the game this time, and that's important," Deal said. "We are trying to
be ready, prepared and react as quickly as possible."
That kind of reassurance was a hard sell with some."I'm not counting on it," said Terri Herod, who bought a large bag of sand and a shovel at local hardware store. "I've been in Georgia on and off for 20 years. It's usually the same scenario: not enough preparations and not enough equipment."
Memories of the last storm are still painfully fresh. Students were trapped on buses or at schools and thousands of cars were abandoned along highways as short commutes turned into odysseys. One woman gave birth on a jammed interstate. Officials reported one accident-related death.
This storm could be worse this time. A one-two punch of winter weather was expected for Atlanta and northern Georgia. Rain and snow were forecast Tuesday, followed by sleet and freezing rain Wednesday. Downed power lines and icy roads were a major worry. Forecasters predicted at least a quarter of an inch of ice for the metro Atlanta area through Thursday morning. Before dawn Tuesday, light snow began falling in parts of the north Georgia mountains, and the metro Atlanta area saw early rain.
Other parts of the South
were expected to get hit as well. Alabama, which saw stranded vehicles
and 10,000 students spend the night in schools during the January storm,
was likely to get a wintry mix, with as much as 3 inches of snow and
ice forecast before lunchtime Tuesday. Parts of Mississippi also could
see 3 inches of snow, and a blast of snow over a wide section of
Kentucky slickened roads and closed several school districts. South
Carolina, which hasn't seen a major ice storm in nearly a decade, could
get a quarter to three-quarters of an inch of ice and as much as 8
inches of snow in some areas. Nearly 900 flights were canceled Tuesday
at airports in Atlanta, Dallas and Charlotte, N.C., according to
tracking service FlightAware.
On
Monday, Deal was doing many things differently than he had last month.
He opened an emergency operations center and held two news conferences
before the storm. In January, Deal and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed did not
hold their first news conference until hours after highways were jammed.
When the Jan. 28 storm hit, Deal was at an awards luncheon with Reed, who was named a magazine's 2014 "Georgian of the Year."
Reed had just tweeted: "Atlanta, we are ready for the snow."
This
time, the mayor made no such predictions. Instead, he said he was in
contact with school leaders and the city had 120 pieces of equipment to
spread salt and sand and plow snow. The National Guard had 1,400
four-wheeled drive vehicles to help anyone stranded.
"We are just going to get out here and, flat out, let our work speak for itself," Reed said.
Much is at stake for the governor, a Republican who is up for re-election, and Reed, who is seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party and has aspirations for higher office. Both took heat from residents, forecasters and even comedians during the last storm.
Saturday Night Live spoofed a storm "survivor" with a thick Southern accent. "The sun will rise again," the character said at one point. Jon Stewart quipped: "The ice age zombie doomsday apocalypse has come to Atlanta."
The governor apologized and announced the formation of a task force to study the problems. This time, ice posed a major concern.
Aaron
Strickland, emergency operations director for Georgia Power, said the
utility was bringing in crews from Florida, Texas, Oklahoma and
Michigan.
"Ice is probably one
of the worst events we face," Strickland said. "When you look at the
types of ice we are talking about, it's catastrophic."
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