again after roads and many cities just paralyzed by a few inches of snow. today drivers will begin returning to their abandoned cars in atlanta. they had to just leave them on the roads after being stuck there for more than 20 hours in some cases. many children are waking up at home for the first time in two days after spending the night at their schools. it has been fatal, this weather, for some people. the death toll across the region stands at the least ten right now, this as the questions over responsibility and the consequences are mounting. our victor blackwell is live in atlanta for us this morning. victor, how do things look this morning? reporter: john, the atlanta metro area is virtually shut down. government offices closed, or at the very most, asking essential employees to come in. schools closed. a few are welcoming students back, but with a significant delay. georgia emergency management officials have issued a civil emergency alert, asking people to stay off the roads,
the cafeteria. officials report that 911 operators dealt with almost ten calls a minute all day from people stranded by the storm. the fact that it hit just before rush hour in a southern city that hasn t seen much of this kind of thing, the schools and local businesses all open, that obviously did not help. but keeping them honest, a lot of people may have been led to believe that their officials were on top of the stoshl when they weren t. yesterday morning, atlanta s mayor tweeted, atlanta, we are ready for the snow. here he is in with the governor accepting an award, nothing to worry about, he said, we are ready. as for the governor responsible for the highways, he found time as the storm grew closer to host an event promoting georgia tourism. he issued no warning until just
changed and and you re going to continue to fight for that? yes, yes, we are. yes. i wish you i m so sorry for all you ve gone through as a family and i wish you strength in the days ahead. thank you. thank you. hard to imagine what they have been through. and will continue to go through. when we come back, we ll have more on the winter weather down in atlanta. our lead story, the ice down south. hey there, i just got my bill, and i see that it includes my fico® credit score. yup, you get it free each month to help you avoid surprises with your credit. good. i hate surprises. surprise! at discover, we treat you like you d treat you. get the it card and see your fico® credit score.
at least ten. thousands of people were left stranded in their cars or they had to stay at school, sleeping at school, or they stayed in their offices. others spent nearly a day just trying to get home. this morning the state is promising to help people get back to their abandoned cars as many are asking who was responsible and who s going to pay the price for all this? victor blackwell live in atlanta this morning. he joins us on the phone. victor, still some frustration this morning, people just starting to be reunited with their kids and their cars. certainly not back to normal there. what s the latest? reporter: well, john and christine, good morning. there have already this morning been reports of crashes because there are significant patches, stretches of ice on the interstates around atlanta, ice on the streets in inner city atlanta. the georgia emergency management association has declared a civil emergency through noon, asking people, with the exception of emergencies, to sta
in atlanta, short commutes turned into eight and ten-hour marathons. there were 900 accidents reported in and around the atlanta metro area. many drivers had to sleep in their cars. some of them just simply abandoned them altogether. the national guard is sending out military humvees to try to help move some of the vehicles and get traffic moving again. hundreds of students ended up camping out inside their own schools, because parents couldn t get to them, and the school system didn t want to send buses out on the roads. some even had to sleep on the buses after they got stuck in the traffic. here s a live map showing the saturation in georgia right now. more than 120 incidents have been reported in and around atlanta this morning. we have icy roads, lane closures. it is a complete mess down there in one of the most important southern hubs in the country. datebank and deep dive into our new poll coming up next. [ male announcer ] the new new york is open. open to innovation. open to