Lessons learned from SnowedOutAtlanta

Michelle Sollicito March 2014

Who am I (Personal)?Mother of two children

Live in Marietta, North of Atlanta

Run Marietta Moms (for 7 years)

Involved in Educational Advocacy

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)

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.

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

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 googlemap, offering shelter to strangers!

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

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

The Emotions of It AllElizabeth’s mom

Katie and Craig

Deena Loetz’s son got to ER

Pregnant sister is found

Kids on schoolbuses for 12+ hours

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

Very few people seemed to know this info was

out there

Before Storm - Utilities People felt the Utilities were well-prepared

Before Storm - Utilities Many people posted info they found useful

Asked questions

Georgia Power People liked when the

utilities were 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

The Emotions of It AllKelli and her 6 kids

911 gave bad advice?

People were very

upset

The Emotions of It All Trent Redmon’s Grandmother

In her 80’s

In hospital bed

Machines not working

Power outage

UtilitiesBad Vibes for some

Outage maps unavailable due to load

Phone lines busy

Confusing advice between 911/utilities

Long outages

Utilities Monitored Closely Marietta Power and Water

Even CNN reported to be

only counting Georgia Power!

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 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

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.)

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!

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?

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 advised others on

preparation for outages

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

Appendix 3 Elizabeth’s Mom

9:17pm first post

10:50pm she is found by SnowedOutAtlanta members

11:24pm ambulance arrives

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