Deep freeze paralyzes cities, but brings out Southern hospitality

A few inches of snow brought Atlanta and Birmingham traffic to a standstill for hours – commuters abandoned cars, students spent the night in schools or in churches. But the sudden snow and cold also brought out the best in Southern hospitality and neighborliness.

Students camped out with teachers in school gyms or on buses and commuters abandoned cars along the highway to seek shelter in churches, fire stations — even grocery stores — after a rare snowstorm left thousands of unaccustomed Southerners frozen in their tracks.

Tuesday's storm deposited mere inches of snow, barely enough to qualify as a storm up North. And yet it was more than enough to paralyze Deep South cities such as Atlanta and Birmingham, and strand thousands of workers who tried to rush home early only to never make it home at all.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal said early Wednesday that the National Guard was sending military Humvees onto Atlanta's snarled freeway system in an attempt to move stranded school buses and get food and water to people. Georgia State Patrol troopers headed to schools where children were hunkered down early Wednesday after spending the night there, and transportation crews continued to treat roads and bring gas to motorists, Deal said.

The South saw fatal crashes and hundreds of fender-benders. Jackknifed 18-wheelers littered Interstate 65 in central Alabama. Ice shut down bridges on Florida's panhandle and the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, one of the world's longest spans, in Louisiana.

Some commuters pleaded for help via cellphones while still holed up in their cars, while others trudged miles home, abandoning their vehicles outright.

Atlanta, hub to major corporations and the world's busiest airport, once again found itself unprepared to deal with the chaos — despite assurances that city officials had learned their lessons from a 2011 ice storm that brought the city to its knees.

The city's Downtown Connector, numerous Interstate 75 entrance and exit ramps in suburban Cobb County, and stretches of the freeway in other counties were impassible at times after hours of snow Tuesday, Georgia Department of Transportation officials said. A sea of red brake lights remained at a standstill along a dozen lanes of the Downtown Connector shortly before dawn Wednesday.

Poor travel conditions were exacerbated by a mass of workers ending their days early.

"Within a very short time frame, from when the snow started falling here, it became very obvious that everyone was leaving at the same time to go home," Gov. Nathan Deal said during a late-night news conference.

Things weren't looking much better early Wednesday as temperatures plummeted into the teens overnight, promising to make snow and ice-covered bridges and roadways just as treacherous for any who might dare to try another commute.

If there was a bright spot, it was that the bitter cold brought warm, Southern-style graciousness to the fore, as strangers opened up their homes, volunteers served coffee and snacks to the traffic-bound, and schoolbound principals played bingo and other games with stranded students to while away the time.

Debbie Hartwig, a waitress at an Atlanta area waffle house, said she managed to keep her cool thanks in part to the kindness of strangers after 10 hours on the road.

"I'm calm," she said. "That's all you can be. People are helping each other out, people are moving cars that have spun out or had become disabled. It's been really nice. I even saw people passing out hot coffee and granola bars."

At the non-denominational Action Church in Canton, Ga., church members kept the lights on for stranded motorists. Tommy Simmons, a church member, said the church parking lot was filling overnight with cars of stranded motorists.

"I've got 12 to 18 people right now. They're getting warmed up," Simmons said. His guests included a family that got stuck in the Atlanta area en route to Texas, several motorists, and two homeless men.

"Everyone is sitting around chitchatting like they've known each other for years," he said. And in true Southern style, the guests were served pork barbecue.

Heroes also had their day. Police in suburban Atlanta say one of their own helped assist the safe delivery of a baby girl on a gridlocked interstate Tuesday afternoon after snow and ice brought traffic to a crawl.

Sandy Springs Police Capt. Steve Rose told The Associated Press the baby girl was safely delivered around 5:20 p.m. Tuesday amid gridlocked traffic on Interstate 285. A traffic officer arrived with only minutes to spare before the infant arrived.

"Fortunately he had his emergency lights on and people got out of his way," Rose said. "The delivery was pretty flawless."

Rose said police were so overwhelmed with calls for stranded motorists, fender-benders and other problems that he hadn't even had time to check the identities of the parents — or if the baby had a name yet. But he said they were taken by ambulance to a hospital and were being cared for.

Meanwhile, people took to social media such as Facebook to appeal for overnight shelter — or to offer guest rooms, fire stations, churches and park gymnasiums to those needing a warm place to stay after spending hours in their cars. People on one page, SnowedOutAtlanta, offered guest bedrooms, fire stations, shelters and just about any other warm building to stay. Even a supermarket offered lodging.

In Acworth, a suburb northwest of Atlanta, Barber Middle School Principal Lisa Williams said 972 pupils had made it home by late Tuesday but five still remained after their parents got stuck while trying to reach them.

"We are in the front office playing bingo and eating snacks," Williams said, adding that 40 school workers also had decided to stay put instead of risking a dangerous drive home.

At least a few students were still aboard school buses stuck on roadways in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday, though the scope wasn't yet clear. Steve Smith, associate superintendent with Atlanta Public Schools, told WSB-TV that two students from the district remained on one bus.

Jay Dillon, a spokesman for the large Cobb County School District in suburban Atlanta, noted there were logistical hurdles to getting students home on bus fleets as pupils were dismissed two hours early.

He did not say how many students were to remain in schools overnight.

"Fortunately, they will be safe and warm, have facilities, and, if they stay overnight, will be fed dinner and breakfast," he said. "Not an ideal situation, but at least they are supervised, safe and accounted for."

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Associated Press writers Kate Brumback, Ray Henry, Phillip Lucas, Bill Cormier, and Don Schanche in Atlanta; Mike Graczyk in Houston; Bruce Smith in Charleston, S.C.; Kevin McGill and Stacey Plaisance in New Orleans; Jay Reeves in Montgomery, Ala.; Brock Vergakis in Norfolk, Va.; and Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans contributed to this report.

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