ATLANTA — Students camped out with teachers in school gyms 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.
Galapagos tortoises stay warm under a heater inside the tortoise barn at the Austin Zoo, Monday Jan. 27, 2014, in Austin, Texas. Zookeepers are using hay, blankets, tarps and heaters to protect their animals from the next cold snap. There's a 20 percent chance of a wintry mix for Central Texas while flurries are possible for the Panhandle. (AP Photo/Austin American-Statesman, Jay Janner) AUSTIN CHRONICLE OUT, COMMUNITY IMPACT OUT, MAGS OUT; NO SALES; INTERNET AND TV MUST CREDIT PHOTOGRAPHER AND STATESMAN.COM.
Dozens of motorists become stranded on Womack Road as dropping temperatures turn the hill into a sheet of ice on Tuesday night Jan. 28, 2014, in Dunwoody, Georgia. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal says that he will send troopers to schools where students are stranded because they could not make it home on clogged roads caused by the rare snowstorm. The governor spoke from the Capitol building Tuesday night.
People wait in a bus shelter in north Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014 as ice and snow flurries cause difficult driving conditions. A severe winter storm is expected to hit the state bringing ice and snow to the Gulf Coast.
A warns motorists to slow down on the Popp's Ferry bridge in Biloxi, Miss., on Monday Jan. 27, 2014. Bridges are expected to ice over on Tuesday and Wednesday during a winter storm in the area. The sign was put out on Friday when another winter storm left ice on area bridges causing multiple auto accidents.
A vehicle moves slowly on Interstate 575 in North West Ga., Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014, near Kennesaw, Ga. Georgians stocked up on ice-melting chemicals, school systems closed, and road crews prepared to clear snow and ice from highways as a winter storm took aim.
Vehicles moves slowly on Interstate 575 in North West Ga., Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014, near Kennesaw, Ga. Georgians stocked up on ice-melting chemicals, school systems closed, and road crews prepared to clear snow and ice from highways as a winter storm took aim.
Good Samaritan Sammy Rouchdi pushes stranded motorist Cameron Scheeler up an iced over hill on Womack Road after he became stuck on the ice trying to get home on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014, in Dunwoody.
David Hansen of Gulfport, Miss., police, right, and state trusty Josh Sullivan put barricades out at the I-10 on ramp at U.S. 49 in Gulfport on Monday Jan. 27, 2014 in peparation for expected icy road conditions on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The scene of a multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 59 south of Hardy Street Tuesday night Jan. 28, 2014 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. A total of nine 18-wheelers and several passenger vehicles were involved in multiple wrecks south of Hardy Street on Interstate 59 Tuesday.
Traffic creeps along Interstate 55 in north Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014, as ice and snow flurries cause difficult driving conditions. A severe winter storm is expected to hit the state, bringing ice and snow to the Gulf Coast.
Jesse Hatcher limps away from his crash after he says another motorist caused him to lose control of his car and spin out off I-20 West near Conyers on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014, in Conyers, Georgia.
A Dekalb Police officer stops to check on Jesse Hatcher after he says another motorist caused him to lose control of his car and spin into the ditch off I-20 West near Conyers on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014, in Conyers.
Traffic backs up as a wrecker pulls a car out of a ditch on I-65 during an unual snow Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014, in Clanton, Ala. A rare storm left a slippery layer of ice and snow across a region unaccustomed to dealing with the wintry threat.
Sevierville Primary School students load up as school is let out early due to snow in Sevierville, Tenn., Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014. Snowfall across East Tennessee has led several school districts to call off classes early.
The snow covered statue of late Georgia Governor and U.S. Sen.Richard B. Russell points the direction for a pedestrian as she makes her way past the state capitol while snow begins to accumulate Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014, in Atlanta.
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.
There were hundreds of fender-benders, and some fatal crashes too. 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 stranded 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.
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 for 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.
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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