Deadly Ice storm turns Atlanta into frozen tundra

[Brittain33]

Boston "can deal with snow" but a moderate storm hitting mid-day when everyone is at work causes complete gridlock for hours as everyone tries to leave.

[Brittain33]

I understand the lack of infrastructure and the fact that this rarely happens, but such a minimal storm should not have caused such huge delays.

I lived in Upstate NY for some time and we would frequently have roads go unplowed and ice/snow everywhere for weeks (nothing melts when its -10), yet everyone managed to get through just fine.

Upstate New York has incredible road capacity for the number of commuters it has. You wouldn't see gridlock in rural Georgia or in Macon in this storm.

[Brittain33]

How many Southerners mocked New York and New Jersey because we absorb more powerful hurricanes than Sandy every year? Oh right, 0.  We understand that regions generally aren't well-prepared for disasters that are rare in that region. Instead we just sent aid money and did what we could to help.

But when the tables were flipped this week, Northerners just mocked us instead.  Thanks for nothing.

I totally agree that mockery is uncalled for here... That said... Being judgmental is a universal trait and there were some southerners who thought it was ridiculous when hundreds of Chicagoans or Frenchmen died in a heat wave that would be normal in the South, and plenty of Southerners who voted against aid for Sandy relief in Congress... People can be unsympathetic.

[Brittain33]

Nobody disputes that the South gets more in federal funding than it gives, but when you look at private charity donations, the South always leads the way, and that's not even adjusting for the lower per capita incomes.

Private charity donations includes church donations, and no one would deny that the South has higher church attendance than the northeast and much (not all) of the west. But there isn't always a clear line from making donations to a religious group and literally helping people in need vs. supporting building maintenance, mission trips overseas, etc.