Good morning, Lovelies! It is so wonderful to be home safely due to the winter storm.
On Tuesday morning while I was in Pilates class, we noticed that it had started snowing hard. The forecast only called for light flurries and maybe a possible dusting for the Birmingham and Central Alabama area. The bulk of the winter weather was supposed to hit Montgomery and farther south to the Gulf of Mexico.
The forecasters were wrong….dead wrong. It was a not so subtle reminder that God is in control, for sure.
I ran home (one minute away) from Pilates and grabbed a light jacket and my purse/cell phone and headed to my daughter's school to check her out. We live on Oak Mountain and these things tend to affect us more because the road over the mountain is treacherous on a sunny day. By the time I left our neighborhood and made it to the top of the mountain, conditions were so hazardous that a truck had jackknifed on the mountain and I had to turn around and go the "back way" down Dunnavant Valley. Then I had to go over the mountain on Highway 280. This delayed me and caused me to get in the gridlock around Birmingham.
I finally made it to Valleydale Road in about four hours (my daughter's school is just off Valleydale), and I hit even more gridlock. Below is a photo of a 24 car pile-up soon after it happened, and as more cars tried to get through Valleydale, folks abandoned their cars, sometimes on the street because many people were running out of gas. There were at least 500 or so cars in this area alone Tuesday night. (The Fox Lake Farm property is visible on the right where my daughter rides.)
On Tuesday morning while I was in Pilates class, we noticed that it had started snowing hard. The forecast only called for light flurries and maybe a possible dusting for the Birmingham and Central Alabama area. The bulk of the winter weather was supposed to hit Montgomery and farther south to the Gulf of Mexico.
The forecasters were wrong….dead wrong. It was a not so subtle reminder that God is in control, for sure.
I ran home (one minute away) from Pilates and grabbed a light jacket and my purse/cell phone and headed to my daughter's school to check her out. We live on Oak Mountain and these things tend to affect us more because the road over the mountain is treacherous on a sunny day. By the time I left our neighborhood and made it to the top of the mountain, conditions were so hazardous that a truck had jackknifed on the mountain and I had to turn around and go the "back way" down Dunnavant Valley. Then I had to go over the mountain on Highway 280. This delayed me and caused me to get in the gridlock around Birmingham.
I finally made it to Valleydale Road in about four hours (my daughter's school is just off Valleydale), and I hit even more gridlock. Below is a photo of a 24 car pile-up soon after it happened, and as more cars tried to get through Valleydale, folks abandoned their cars, sometimes on the street because many people were running out of gas. There were at least 500 or so cars in this area alone Tuesday night. (The Fox Lake Farm property is visible on the right where my daughter rides.)
Valleydale Road accident via Twitter
The cause for much of the gridlock is this: School administrators dismissed schools and businesses closed around the same time, but Hoover City Schools (where we live) delayed their dismissal more than the other districts. As a result, some 4600 students had to spend the night at their schools in Hoover.
Since I couldn't get through Valleydale to get to my daughter's school, I did a u-turn (absolutely no traffic headed in the opposite direction) and drove about 500 yards to a fire station. I noticed a snowplow and sand truck there, and they were preparing to put sand down on Valleydale once crews cleared a path. In the interim, my friend Lulu and her husband Robert heard I was at the firestation and invited me to dinner at their house just a block away. After the best chicken wings and pizza I'd ever had, it was time for the sand trucks and plow to make the road safer.
The sand truck and snowplow wrecked into each other. (I can't make this up), plus the plow was behind the truck, pushing the sand out of the way! :/
It took yet another thirty minutes for the trucks to be disentangled and set to rights. Once the sand was down, it improved the road enough for me to get through so I could get to Christ Church United Methodist, home of Stonecreek Montessori School.
I arrived at 10:30 PM, approximately twelve hours from the time I left home. Shelley was happy to see me, and I was happy to be there with the kids and faculty over night.
Several of the kids from the local high school wrecked their cars in front of the church. I think it was reckless of the high school to release those kids to drive home, but they did. We took in several girls from Spain Park High School and a few kiddos from Jeff State Community College. The church was so gracious to serve the kids their Wednesday Night Meal a night early, and the kids slept in the church's sanctuary.
At noon yesterday, I drove as far as I could up the mountain (Hugh Daniel Drive), precariously parked my car on the flattest shoulder I could find, and walked up the mountain and down to our subdivision's gate. Several young men and dads had ATV's and were taking turns giving folks rides to their homes. I want to thank the young man who took Shelley and me home. It was irresponsible of Hoover not to have the mountain barricaded. Again, epic failure for the City of Hoover. Plus, I walked by two abandoned Hoover police SUV's on the mountain.
We also walked up the mountain with a Berry Middle School student who had walked from school. How can this happen? It is over 14 miles from our home to Berry, and this little guy lives about another two miles farther than our home. I think it's very irresponsible for a school to allow a student to walk that far.
I'm so sad over the loss of life and those who were injured as a result of this debacle. Please understand that I'm not upset with the meteorologists because people make mistakes. I'm VERY upset that our state and local officials were not prepared for this. It was chaotic, and I didn't see many authorities trying to help at all with the exception of the nice folks at the Firehouse. And since I spent most of my time on Valleydale Road amidst abandoned cars, it was surreal, truly…..like a zombie apocalypse. I felt like I was on the set in Atlanta for The Walking Dead!
I learned many, many lessons as a result of this mess:
1. If you think you can depend on your government in times of crisis, think again.
2. No one, no vehicle can drive on ice. Sand helps on ice very little, and we have no salt trucks in Alabama.
3. Alabamians are generally kind. I want to thank The Home Depot on Highway 280 for their generosity in passing-out water bottles to motorists and Chick-Fil-A for giving out free food. I will be a customer to both businesses in the future…they've earned my loyalty.
4. I will keep water bottles in my car from now on as well as an emergency kit. I was not dressed appropriately in Pilates clothes and a light jacket. Fortunately I was not stuck in my car for the single digit temperatures.
5. My family will have an emergency plan from now on.
6. I will not vote for a single incumbent locally in the next election, and I don't care what his or her political affiliation is……they had their chance to lead, and they failed us all. I only wish I had the right to vote for school board members and superintendent.
7. Kudos to many local businesses and churches who took in folks in need. They were wonderful, and these are folks you can depend on.
8. I also must give kudos to the Shelby County Fire and Rescue. They came to our school twice to check on the kids, and they even gave us good advice about road conditions and the safest routes to help the parents get their children home safely. They are the ONLY local authority who seemed to care in my world. They are also bringing home stranded folks in our neighborhood, too. I have yet to see anyone around here from Hoover, but maybe I missed them.
9. Check on your neighbors, even if you aren't very close to them. Sometimes it's the little things, like taking in a pet home alone, that can mean so much to a family.
10. You can depend on your friends and neighbors. Thanks Lulu, Robert, Ainslie, Randy, Tracy, Rachel, and Natalie.
I want to apologize if this is too much of a rant. I'm tired, I'm traumatized, and I'm going to enjoy the next several days with my daughter because school is out until Monday. I am very thankful that no one close to me was hurt, and I'm equally thankful that I didn't harm anyone on the roads.
I'll be back next week. I need to just live in the comfort of our home for a few days.
Until next time…
Blessings!
Ricki Jill