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Lessons learned from SnowedOutAtlanta
Michelle Sollicito Feb 2015

Who am I (Personal)?
 Mother of two children
 Live in Marietta, just North of Atlanta
 Run Marietta Moms (for 7 years)
 Up to 500 members in the Marietta area
 Facebook page MariettaMoms has 255 “likes”
 Involved in Educational Advocacy
 Facebook page FundCobbSchools
 Successful joint campaign – Deal +$500m for Education
 Now Cobb Candidate Forum too

Who am I (Professional)?
 25+ years experience in IT and Websites
 Lots of Business Continuity Planning/Disaster Recovery
 Writer -Wrote a book about BCP/DR
 Started my own company TxtToAd.com
 Facebook app, mobile app and website
 Read lots of business books
 Facebook Effect (David Kirkpatrick)

Before The Storm
 Day before, warned schools might close early
 Left work 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.

Facts and Figures (Snow Day 1)
 12pm left work
 12:30pm skidded
 12:45pm got home
 3pm called Governor Deal to announce State of Emergency
 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 made the whole thing more scary
 911 was not answering and no one was coming to accidents
 Women with babies had no diapers or formula
 Kids needed the bathroom
 Some people needed to take meds
 Women were wearing high heels and skirts, not dressed for the
weather
 Schoolbuses had not arrived home

 Mood changed in the group after about 8pm to one of rescue
 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

 400 people had been helped directly by 11pm
 29,000 members by midnight
 100 posts per minute, 300 new members every 15 mins
 500+ people put their OWN HOME on the google map, offering shelter
to strangers!
 By 8:30am approx the next morning group size 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

The Emotions of It All
 Elizabeth’s mom
 Elizabeth is an old friend of mine
 Elderly mother with hip replacement and broken hip
 People from the site went and sat with her, gave her blankets
 Ambulance got to her 2.5 hours after Elizabeth’s first post
 Katie and Craig
 8 mths pregnant with a 3 yr old son in car
 Only food they had was tictacs, no drinks
 Deena Loetz’s son got to ER
 Pregnant sister is found
 Kids on schoolbuses for 12+ hours

Katie and Craig
 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

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

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)

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

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

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 other than the one they use
 Very few people seemed to know this info was
out there

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

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

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
 Later heard 250,000+

 Kelli and her 6 kids
 Carroll EMC
 911 gave bad advice?
 People were very upset

 Trent Redmon’s Grandmother
 In her 80’s
 In hospital bed
 Machines not working
 Power outage

Utilities
 Bad Vibes for some – like Georgia EMC

Utilities
 Georgia Power Outages
Monitored Very Closely

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

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

Utilities
 SMS tools were LOVED and shared!

Why Did It Work?
Simple
Unexpected
Concrete
Credible
Emotional
Stories
(madetostick.com)

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
 Georgia Tech Emergency Communications Team impressed
 Updated central document with latest information
 Updated Google Map with central info

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

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.)

What to Avoid..
Using a page instead of a group
Multiple admins – one admin, one
culture
Rules, rules, rules – have none
Banning or removing members from
group
Uneducated facebook users

Advice..Being social means we take the rough with the smooth - it means that we ALL
have free speech and others can post stuff we do not like. Unfortunately it also
means others can post stuff that if we let it get to us can cause us to feel ill, even
suicidal at the extreme end. Every person on Facebook has the responsiblity to
notice when someone's posts are getting to them to an extent that they should not
and there are many actions open to you:
 Take a break from the group (leave the group completely is also an option)
 Unfollow the post where comments are making you uncomfortable ( click on
the down arrow at the top of the post and select turn off notifications)
 Block the person who is making posts that make you uncomfortable (either
unfriend them or click on their name and then click on ... on their personal
page and then click block - or both)..
 Report the person - if many people do this Facebook warns the user and may
remove the person from Facebook. If the person has threatened someone
online, Facebook will just tell you to call the police and let the police deal with
it.
 Report someone to the police. If someone on Facebook makes a direct death
threat or threat of violence, definitely do this immediately. Also take
screenshots of any evidence. Call a lawyer too.

Lessons Learned
 911 system failed
 Functional needs community lacked support
 Information was out of date and difficult to find
 GA is never going to cope well with snow
 GA DOT vehicles were ill equipped

Lessons Learned
 Governor Deal Severe Weather Task Force issues
 Ready app from GEMA
 Communication with Meterologists improved
 Sensors on the roads
 Many conferences and meetings for Emergency Mgt personnel to talk
about improvements
 Joint effort
 Companies (Home Depot, Kroger, Waffle House, etc.)
 Individuals
 Faith based organizations
 VOADs (Voluntary organizations like Red Cross)
 Cobb County EMA (Bernard King)
 Tiered 911 with CERT support
 CERT push
 Exercises/drills

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!

If you need me..
 Questions? Help? Consultancy available
 Cell: 678 357 3661
 Email: michelle.sollicito@yahoo.com
 Tips, ideas and eBook and Paperback available
http://www.snowedoutatl.com

Appendix
 Utilities gave warnings

Appendix
 People advised others on
preparation for outages

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

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

Appendix
 People loved Georgia Power Facebook page
and Youtube videos

Appendix
 People felt Utilities were prepared

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

Appendix 2
 Status of outages
reported in real time

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