1. Lessons learned from SnowedOutAtlanta
Michelle Sollicito March 2014

2. Who am I (Personal)?
 Mother of two children
 Live in Marietta, North of Atlanta
 Run Marietta Moms (for 7 years)
 Involved in Educational Advocacy

3. Who am I (Professional)?
 25+ years experience in IT and Websites
 Business Continuity Planning/Disaster Recovery Book
 Started my own company TxtToAd.com
 Work for Apogee on a part-time basis
 StormCentral
 Read lots of business books
 Facebook Effect (David Kirkpatrick)

4. Before The Storm
 Warned schools might close early
 Left Apogee early to get kids from school
 Skidded on the way home
 Friends were trying to get husbands home
 I connected people to help each other
 I called for a State of Emergency, we all called Deal
 Set up SnowedOutAtlanta at 4:15pm approx.

5. Facts and Figures (Snow Day 1)
 4:15pm approx started SnowedOutAtlanta
 Started with mainly road /route information
 Gathered news from websites and the news and others on the site
 5:20pm Governor Deal announced State of Emergency, EOC opened
 6pm – 9pm desperation started to set in
 Darkness
 911 – no answer
 Women with babies (no diapers or formula)
 No bathrooms, food/drink, meds, warmth
 Schoolbuses had not arrived home

6. Facts and Figures (Snow Day 1)
 Mood changed in the group after about 8pm to one
of rescue
 400 people had been helped directly by 11pm
 29,000 members by midnight
 500 people put their OWN HOME on the google
map, offering shelter to strangers!

7. Facts and Figures (Snow Day 1)
 By 8:30am approx the next morning it was
over 46,000
 Helped a lot of people get home the next day
 Helped a lot of people locate their cars after
the event
 Maximum members at 53,415 members

8. Content(Snow Day1)
 Where gas was available, food and drink, car chargers etc.
 Advice on how to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning,
avoid running out of gas, keep warm etc.
 Hooked up travellers nearby
 Where was shelter available (Google Maps)
 Home Depot
 Kroger/Publix
 Waffle House
 Chick Fil A
 Hotels
 People’s homes

9. The Emotions of It All
Elizabeth’s mom
Katie and Craig
Deena Loetz’s son got to ER
Pregnant sister is found
Kids on schoolbuses for 12+ hours

10. Companies, Snow Day 1
 Companies sheltered people, got BIG kudos:
 Fairfield Inn, Hammond Drive
 Home Depot
 Chick Fil A
 Waffle House
 Kroger, Publix (mixed response)

11. Before Storm 2 (Feb 11th)
 Very clear message not to go out after
4:30pm
 Lots of preparation messages on
SnowedOutAtlanta
 Emergency Kits for everyone, every situation
 Weather radios, CB/Ham radios
 Clear message of power outages being likely
 How to prepare for power outages

12. Before Storm 2 (Feb 11th)
 Clear unified message about the threat
 All agencies
 “Catastrophic”
 “Once in a lifetime event”
 State of Emergency in
88 counties in GA

13. Before Storm - Utilities
 Links to Utilities’ info about how to prepare
 Georgia Power video for setting up alerts
 Many on the site did not know about other power
companies
 Very few people seemed to know this info was
out there

14. Before Storm - Utilities
 People felt the Utilities were well-prepared

15. Before Storm - Utilities
 Many people posted info they found useful
 Asked questions

16. Georgia Power
 People liked when the
utilities were honest
 They liked the warnings
 It scared them (good!)
 Liked tools (esp apps!)

17. Facts and Figures (SnowDay 2)
 Mainly night of Feb 11th to Feb 12th
 53,000 people on SnowedOutAtlanta
 Huge numbers of power outages were reported
 113,000+ Georgia Power customers alone were
affected
 AJC reported 150,000 out of power in Georgia
 My perception from the site is it was higher
than that

18. The Emotions of It All
 Kelli and her 6 kids
 911 gave bad advice?
 People were very
upset

19. The Emotions of It All
 Trent Redmon’s Grandmother
 In her 80’s
 In hospital bed
 Machines not working
 Power outage

20. Utilities
Bad Vibes for some
Outage maps unavailable due to load
Phone lines busy
Confusing advice between
911/utilities
Long outages

21. Utilities Monitored Closely
 Marietta Power and Water
 Even CNN reported to be
only counting Georgia Power!

22. Utilities
 Georgia Power Outages
Monitored Very Closely

23. Utilities
 Info on how to interact
with Georgia Power was
quickly shared

24. Utilities
 Misinformation was quickly cleared up
 Many (even news reporters??) seemed to think Georgia
Power’s map showed ALL outages across Georgia
 People tried to correct that misinformation

25. Utilities
 SMS tools were LOVED and shared!

26. Why Facebook?
 Responsive
 Most smartphones, tablets and computers supported
 Widely-used
 Get the word out to a mass audience quickly
 Vote by “Like” or “Comment”
 The most needy cases bubbled to the top
 Empowered people to help themselves/others
 Central source of GREAT information
 Updated central document with latest information
 Updated Google Map with central info

27. Why Maps?
 Google Maps was very popular
 511 Traffic Map too
 StormCenter type Maps
too

28. Why Twitter?
 Used by phones with minimal capabilities
 Real-time, fast updates
 Mass audience
 Can see updates from multiple sources at once (e.g.
GEMA, Governor Deal, local Police, 511 etc.)

29. Conclusions
 People can do a lot in a crisis
(Tracy Hoover, Points of Light website)
 People are empowered by Facebook / Social Media
 Connectedness is key to survival both psychologically
and physically in Emergency situations
 Helping people actually became addictive!

30. Conclusions
"You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make
up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn't exist
anywhere except in the mind. Inaction breeds doubt and
fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want
to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go
out and get busy” ~Dale Carnegie
Questions?

31. Appendix
 Utilities gave warnings

32. Appendix
 People advised others on
preparation for outages

33. Appendix
 People discussed
predictions of how bad
the storm would be
 People discussed
preparation levels

34. Appendix
 People advised others on
preparation for outages

35. Appendix
 People reported outages
on the site
 People were told how to
report outages

36. Appendix
 People loved Georgia Power Facebook page
and Youtube videos

37. Appendix
 People felt Utilities were prepared

38. Appendix 2
 AJC reported more than
150,000 without power in GA

39. Appendix 2
 Status of outages
reported in real time

40. Appendix 3
 Elizabeth’s Mom
 9:17pm first post
 10:50pm she is found by SnowedOutAtlanta members
 11:24pm ambulance arrives

41. Appendix 3
 Katie and Craig
 8mths pregnant
 3 yr old son
 No food, drink, bathroom
 Katie posted at 1:41am
 SnowedOutAtlanta got to her
at 4:30am
 SnowedOutAtlanta got to her
Home at 7:59am