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Our Wintery Hell
Jan. 29th, 2014 10:48 amNot the specific road that I was trapped on, but they might as well have been. It was the exact same.
( Read more... )
Apparently a ton of people were trapped on roads overnight.
It's been really freaky because it's just not conditions that we ever have here. On the rare times that it snows, it usually just AS the temperatures are falling from above freezing so the snow melts off the roads, leaving traffic clear. This time it began snowing (with some freezing rain) after it had been 19F (-7C) the entire night before so when it began freezing rain turning quickly to snow, the roads immediately hard froze. Plus, because it virtually never snows, no one was actually expecting that it would (forecasts aside) and it hit just after everyone had already gone to work/school.
Plus the topography of Birmingham is not conducive for this sort of thing. Birmingham is in the foothills of the Appalachians and is a series of valleys bordered by forested large hills/tiny mountains. There's really no "out" without crossing through several relatively steep passes. Even though I live and work "over the mountain" (referring to Red Mountain that separates downtown from the southern suburbs) it's just yet another valley bordered by ridges of hills on both sides.
Still I only had to make it THROUGH the valley. My two ways home were Cahaba Valley and Valleydale. Since I work on Valleydale and my parents live on Valleydale, that was my chosen route home. And as hellish as it was, I was probably fortunate compared to many. Interstate 65 became an impassable parking lot, and I cannot imagine the hell it must've been to be caught on Interstate 459 which has wide swathes of forest on either side and most of the exits beyond Mountain Brook don't lead to much development.
Luckily/unluckily Valleydale is just a two lane road with a turn lane that passes through mostly residential areas. Unfortunately it's also one of two major connections between major traffic arteries Hwy 280 and Interstate 65, so the people stranded on those roads try to detour onto Valleydale.
But, unlike I-459, at least when I got out of my car to begin hiking, I was in a residential/commercial mix where I knew even if I couldn't make it to my parents home, I'd at least pass the high school, two churches, and a fire station, so I could stop if I needed to. Luckily, I didn't need to. Though hiking in 17F(-8C) didn't help my head cold. I am thanking all luck that when debating what to wear to work yesterday morning I decided against the ballet flats and went with the boots. If I had worn the ballet flats or my heels, I don't think I could have made the hike the way that I did. I may not have had a hat or gloves, but I at least had a good coat, a fleece scarf, and boots for the trek. That was what was disturbing to me, here I am perfectly healthy (except for the cold) and reasonablyunderdressed. What about someone trapped in that mess who couldn't just say, "Screw it, I'll walk"?
They did say last night that the high school I pass on Valleydale had been turned into a shelter, and the fire station I passed is always a "safe place" shelter. So, again, at least there were readily available refuges in the immediate area.
I spoke with Peter, my cubicle-mate at work, and he said he'd had to abandon his car once he got off of I-65 and that he had to hike 10 miles to reach his home yesterday. And that his wife, an elementary school teacher, has his home full of stranded teachers.
My brother-in-law had to hike home after a 24 hour shift at the hospital, and my nephew never made it back from UAB dental school but stayed with some school friends. Some of his friends, though made it as far as my sister's house so she seems to be running an impromptu shelter for displaced dental students. I assume my other nephew slept at the hospital since he was on-call.
Roads are still frozen all over town (a result of it having been 8F (-13C) overnight and it's expected to do more than climb to 24 today. There are apparently tons of people who have been stranded on the roads the ENTIRE TIME. And thousands of students who have had to sleep in area schools overnight because no one was able to get through to take them home.
It's a MESS.
At any rate, I made it to my parents and have sheltered there (it's another 4 miles to my house and it's over a HUGE hill, so not even worth the effort. I and my puppy are here and here we'll stay. I may or may not attempt to retrieve my car today. Since I managed to park it in a real parking space in a real parking lot rather than just the side of the road, I don't feel like I have to rush to do it. So it may have to wait until tomorrow when it's supposed to begin to thaw. Today I'm nursing my cold, petting my puppy, and reading on my parents couch... and thankful that I have that much comfort and wasn't one of the many who had to sleep in cars and are still stranded in shelters or on the highways.
It's crazy!
( Read more... )
Apparently a ton of people were trapped on roads overnight.
It's been really freaky because it's just not conditions that we ever have here. On the rare times that it snows, it usually just AS the temperatures are falling from above freezing so the snow melts off the roads, leaving traffic clear. This time it began snowing (with some freezing rain) after it had been 19F (-7C) the entire night before so when it began freezing rain turning quickly to snow, the roads immediately hard froze. Plus, because it virtually never snows, no one was actually expecting that it would (forecasts aside) and it hit just after everyone had already gone to work/school.
Plus the topography of Birmingham is not conducive for this sort of thing. Birmingham is in the foothills of the Appalachians and is a series of valleys bordered by forested large hills/tiny mountains. There's really no "out" without crossing through several relatively steep passes. Even though I live and work "over the mountain" (referring to Red Mountain that separates downtown from the southern suburbs) it's just yet another valley bordered by ridges of hills on both sides.
Still I only had to make it THROUGH the valley. My two ways home were Cahaba Valley and Valleydale. Since I work on Valleydale and my parents live on Valleydale, that was my chosen route home. And as hellish as it was, I was probably fortunate compared to many. Interstate 65 became an impassable parking lot, and I cannot imagine the hell it must've been to be caught on Interstate 459 which has wide swathes of forest on either side and most of the exits beyond Mountain Brook don't lead to much development.
Luckily/unluckily Valleydale is just a two lane road with a turn lane that passes through mostly residential areas. Unfortunately it's also one of two major connections between major traffic arteries Hwy 280 and Interstate 65, so the people stranded on those roads try to detour onto Valleydale.
But, unlike I-459, at least when I got out of my car to begin hiking, I was in a residential/commercial mix where I knew even if I couldn't make it to my parents home, I'd at least pass the high school, two churches, and a fire station, so I could stop if I needed to. Luckily, I didn't need to. Though hiking in 17F(-8C) didn't help my head cold. I am thanking all luck that when debating what to wear to work yesterday morning I decided against the ballet flats and went with the boots. If I had worn the ballet flats or my heels, I don't think I could have made the hike the way that I did. I may not have had a hat or gloves, but I at least had a good coat, a fleece scarf, and boots for the trek. That was what was disturbing to me, here I am perfectly healthy (except for the cold) and reasonably
They did say last night that the high school I pass on Valleydale had been turned into a shelter, and the fire station I passed is always a "safe place" shelter. So, again, at least there were readily available refuges in the immediate area.
I spoke with Peter, my cubicle-mate at work, and he said he'd had to abandon his car once he got off of I-65 and that he had to hike 10 miles to reach his home yesterday. And that his wife, an elementary school teacher, has his home full of stranded teachers.
My brother-in-law had to hike home after a 24 hour shift at the hospital, and my nephew never made it back from UAB dental school but stayed with some school friends. Some of his friends, though made it as far as my sister's house so she seems to be running an impromptu shelter for displaced dental students. I assume my other nephew slept at the hospital since he was on-call.
Roads are still frozen all over town (a result of it having been 8F (-13C) overnight and it's expected to do more than climb to 24 today. There are apparently tons of people who have been stranded on the roads the ENTIRE TIME. And thousands of students who have had to sleep in area schools overnight because no one was able to get through to take them home.
It's a MESS.
At any rate, I made it to my parents and have sheltered there (it's another 4 miles to my house and it's over a HUGE hill, so not even worth the effort. I and my puppy are here and here we'll stay. I may or may not attempt to retrieve my car today. Since I managed to park it in a real parking space in a real parking lot rather than just the side of the road, I don't feel like I have to rush to do it. So it may have to wait until tomorrow when it's supposed to begin to thaw. Today I'm nursing my cold, petting my puppy, and reading on my parents couch... and thankful that I have that much comfort and wasn't one of the many who had to sleep in cars and are still stranded in shelters or on the highways.
It's crazy!
