Georgia drivers sleep in cars after being stuck for 15 hours when snow storm lightly covers roads and paralyzes communities
Drivers in Georgia described sleepless nights like nothing they had ever experienced, after unprecedented cold weather left three inches of snow and icy roads across the state.
Images from the state showed lightly covered roads - but in areas not used to snow, it was enough to paralyze communities.
In Monroe County, Georgia, many were forced to shelter overnight in their vehicles on Tuesday due to a miles-long traffic standstill on I-75.
“I haven’t slept,” said Emma Worley, who was driving home. “I’ve never experienced anything like this my whole entire life.” Worley told WSB-TV that she had waited 15 hours with “no food, no sleep, no nothing.”
Another driver, Alan Burnett, became trapped in the traffic around 8.30 p.m. Tuesday night. Speaking on Wednesday morning he said he had passed the time “listening to the radio, eating a few snacks in my car.”
Like Worley, he also did not sleep. “I didn’t think it was safe to fall asleep on the highway,” he told WSB-TV.
Aerial photos from the outlet showed stationary traffic backed up, though parts of the highway clearly visible through the light snow. Snow totals reached three inches this week in Savannah, the most that the state’s oldest city has recorded since December 1989.
The Georgia Department of Transportation said Wednesday that a State of Emergency was still in place across the state. The declaration remained in place on Thursday.
“Georgia DOT asks for the public’s patience right now. This is a highly unusual winter weather event impacting nearly three-quarters of the state and our crews cannot be everywhere at once,” Georgia DOT Commissioner Russell R. McMurry said.
“Georgia DOT will need time, ability to access the roads to treat or plow, and warmer temperatures working in our favor to help restore and maintain passable conditions.
“We thank Georgia’s citizens for staying off the roads and for your patience and understanding while our crews are working around the clock.”
However, others more accustomed to the cold weather were less concerned by the adverse conditions. “It is what it is,” said Mark Coombs, who was on his way back from Americus, Georgia, to his home in Locust Grove when he was caught in the traffic.
“You go out in bad weather, you gotta deal with it,” he said. “I grew up north, so I know all about bad weather. It is what it is.”
Elsewhere in the south the snowfall is believed to have broken several records across the region, including in Florida where a preliminary report of 10 inches in one town would set a new all-time record for the state, if confirmed.
