(Photo provided by Danielle Casper)

On Tuesday, drivers throughout Atlanta, Ga., were forced to endure a dusting of snow and ice that crippled transportation. A total of 2.3 inches of snow fell on the city causing numerous traffic accidents and what many are calling the “rush hour from hell.”

Though many in the north have snickered over the fact that a mere 2.3 inches of snow could paralyze a city, many drivers stuck in traffic were not laughing.

“I know that it seems silly to those of you who experience this weather on a regular basis, but there is limited equipment for our area,” explained Debra Brock, a Warsaw native who now resides in the Atlanta area. “The main road in front of our subdivision is still one lane as of this morning.”

Brock, an elementary school teacher in Atlanta, stated children in her school were stranded in the building for several hours, the last child being picked up at 10:45 p.m. Tuesday night. Brock said the school fed and entertained the children for several hours.

Though a total of 100 elementary school students and two buses of middle school students were forced to stay at the school, Brock noted the situation could have been much worse.

(Photo provided by Julie Vandewater)

“Overall, there were several hundred students who spent the night at schools. My district has over 80,000 students, so it could have easily been more. There were kids stuck on buses for hours and some all night. God bless those bus drivers,” stated Brock.

“Schools began dismissal at 12:15 p.m. and I left school around 1:30 p.m. and got home around 4:45 p.m. This was an 8-mile trip,” Brock explained. “It wasn’t just snow, but a sheet of ice under the snow. People abandoned their cars in the middle of the roads, the side of the roads, slid into ditches, into each other … People were walking everywhere. (It was) very scary.”

Brock was not the only Warsaw native to experience Tuesday’s gridlock. Julie Vandewater, an Atlanta resident who is formerly from Warsaw, told StaceyPageOnline.com, “I’ve seen a lot of cynical and sarcastic remarks on Facebook about how northern Indiana and the Midwest have had so much snow and that Atlanta couldn’t handle 2.5 inches, but I want to make it clear that the snow turned to ice, and with a million plus commuters on the road at the same time, any experienced driver would have been challenged to make it home safely, not to mention that this state, along with others down south in general, is ill-equipped to handle these very occasional snow occurrences.”

According to Vandewater, her normal daily commute of 45 minutes — a total distance of 25 miles — was extended to 7 hours due to the poor traffic conditions on Tuesday. She said after leaving work at 2 p.m. she traveled 2 miles in 90 minutes. Within four hours, Vandewater said she had only traveled 5 miles.

Atlanta was in gridlock due to a recent winter storm and Warsaw native Julie Vandewater was stuck in the mess. (Photo provided by Julie Vandewater)

“I began hearing reports of accidents and motorists abandoning vehicles in the middle of the highway because they ran out of gas. And then the sun went down and utter chaos ensued,” she recounted. “Roads become extremely slick, especially on bridges and overpasses. Temperatures fell into the 20s and the snow turned into ice. The area is hilly and semi-trucks couldn’t gain enough speed to make it up the hills, so they began sliding into cars and jackknifing, blocking lanes and clogging the interstate.

“Obviously native Georgian’s and southerners are not accustomed to driving in these conditions,” she added, “but even those of us with some experience on snow and ice were white-knuckled. The conditions were extremely dangerous.”

Though Vandewater made it home in a total of 7 hours, her boss was not as fortunate. Vandewater said her boss, who had left an hour before her, did not arrive home until 7:30 a.m. Wednesday and that another co-worker was forced to stay in a fire station after abandoning her vehicle.

“I knew it was bad, but I didn’t know how horrible it was until I saw the video footage and began hearing stories of the thousands who were stranded,” said Vandewater. “I feel very fortunate to have made it home at all, let alone in 7 hours.”

(Photo provided by Julie Vandewater)

Though Vandewater and Brock both made it home in a matter of hours, Danielle Casper of Mentone and Katie Day of North Manchester report they were stuck for 20 hours in traffic. The two were in Atlanta for work and, after leaving their hotel at 1 p.m., they were forced to sit on an exit ramp for 4 hours.

“We were … trying to get to a gas station. Having to badly use the restroom, we concluded the only option was to walk. After another 3 to 4 hours we got close enough to take turns walking to the gas station for food and the bathroom. We spoke to some women who had waited in line at the pump for gas for 2 to 3 hours.”

Casper told StaceyPageOnline.com, “Traffic finally started to slowly flow so we got to 285 trying to get to a hotel. We inched forward for hours then, around 1 a.m., traffic completely stopped. We slept in our car and didn’t move again at all until we got off at about 10 a.m. It was six lanes of stopped bumper to bumper (vehicles) with concrete meridians and nothing was within walking distance, especially with the temperatures.”

Following Tuesday’s gridlock, the city has begun cleanup efforts. Today, many offices and schools remain closed due to warnings of possible icy roads as a result of below freezing temperatures. Over 1,000 accidents were reported as a result of the snow and numerous vehicles were abandoned throughout the city and surrounding areas.