Motorists across several Southern states tried to rush home at the first sign of snow, creating a traffic nightmare that left thousands sleeping overnight in their cars on highways, on the floors in schools and in the aisles of 26 Home Depot stores that opened their doors for a makeshift shelter.
Georgia’s public safety commissioners confirmed more than 940 accidents and 100 injuries in Atlanta alone, CNN reported. In Alabama, where freezing rain stymied drivers for nearly a day, at least five people were killed in traffic mishaps, and nearly 350 National Guards troops were deployed to assist.
All this — for about 2 inches of snow, at best.
“I’m eight months pregnant and have my 3-year-old with me,” one Atlanta-area resident, Katie Norman Horne, said on a local weather-related Facebook page that was swamped with comments from like-stranded drivers, CNN reported. “We’ve been in the car for over 12 hours. We are fine on gas, but is anyone near on the road and might happen to have any food or some water?”
Alabama and Georgia were hardest hit, but the snowfall — little more than a dusting in some regions — struck across the entire South, leaving thousands of motorists on congested roadways, sleeping in their vehicles or knocking on nearby homeowners’ homes for a place to stay. Home Depot, meanwhile, opened shop in 26 of its outlets in select Southern spots as a makeshift shelter for the cold and weary.
Up to 10 inches of snow fell in parts of Norfolk, Va.
SEE ALSO: ‘As I drove, I prayed’: Winter storm slams the South
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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