“Snowed Out Atlanta” Facebook Page Helps Snow-Plagued Southerners Help Each Other

Sometimes Facebook is a snark orgy, but other times, things like Snowed Out Atlanta pop up and remind us that social media isn’t always an extended cut of Mean Girls.

The Snowed Out Atlanta page is also a reminder of how much havoc wicked weather can play when it appears out of its expected regions — while New Yorkers are able to generally view snowstorms as an inconvenient annoyance, our Southern fellows are stuck in a place without the infrastructure in place to handle dangerous winter events.

What does this mean? More strandings, more accidents, more school closing confusion — and over on Snowed Out Atlanta, more than 50,000 people are reaching out to help and get help from their neighbors.

Much like when lucky New Yorkers with power shared charging stations after Sandy, Facebookers in Atlanta are aware that their current safety and comfort is not shared by all in the bout of bad weather.

24 hours later, abandoned cars still line the streets of Atlanta. We hope everyone makes it home safe and sound. http://t.co/46Jt95JXTQ

— CNN iReport (@cnnireport) January 29, 2014

Mods advise that messages posted to the page should remain urgent, and pertinent information for people waylaid by the weather include:

“TO ALL THAT DON’T KNOW The entire state of Georgia is in a STATE OF EMERGENCY This means that if someone is inside, it is ILLEGAL for that place to kick that person out, just because. If you, or someone you know has been, or is being, threatened with being “thrown out” DO NOT listen to them!!!!! Tell them to go ahead and call the police……when and if the police show up, as long as the person is not causing a disturbance and/or trouble, the police WILL NOT make them leave!!!!!!!!”

Others are a bit more worrisome, and we hope this guy gets a lift!

“Need assistance… Am on i75 nb on ramp 1 exit south of howell mill…. Really need a jump as my battery is dead… Have no cables[.]”

Stranded Atlanta motorists had to sleep in grocery stores overnight (Photo: Reuters) http://t.co/71HtXc5vcF http://ift.tt/1jL9Tgn

— GuardianUS (@GuardianUS) January 29, 2014

Another urgent request came just 15 minutes ago:

“I am at a hotel off Fulton Industrial Pkwy. I am trying to get to AL so I need to continue W on I20. I only have a little car and I have a 4 year old and baby. I’m running out of formula and so I need to leave in the morning. Is it still really blocked at Six Flags Pkwy? Everything I look at shows it is backed up a lot and I don’t want to leave the hotel just to get stranded on the road. I looked at the other groups but I am not familiar with the area on Atlanta. Coming from FL. Thank you!”

Check out the Snowed Out Atlanta page if you have help to give or need some while Georgia battles an unusually bad storm.

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1jL9Tgp