Blizzard Rescue Operations?

[dismayed]

A lot of people are trapped out on the highways right now, including a friend of mine. Does anyone know what the emergency management plan is for the highways? Will the National Guard be dispatched to take care of folks who are in undrivable cars?

[stratosphere]

This is a bad situation, sorry to hear about your friend and of course all of the other people trapped out there. Honestly i dont know what the rescue plan is other than i have heard them say to call *55 and report it if you are stranded. However, the bad news is they are also advising people to stay put in their cars and warning them they could be there a while or overnight even. Some of the things they are saying is to keep your engine running to keep the car warm, but also to crack your windows a bit in case carbon monoxide were to enter in the car. That is in case the tailpipe to the car is covered into snow then the carbon monoxide supposedly backs up into the car.

Personally i cannot imagine spending the night inside of a car in this weather....but hopefully those people have extra clothing, blankets, etc so they can at least keep warm enough to survive.

Might be a good thing for everyone to keep those folks in our prayers tonight.

[betts]

Growing up in Minnesota we never went on a car trip over 30 miles without throwing a couple of down sleeping bags in the car, as well as some emergency rations. Another trick for warmth is candles in glass jars. They put out a surprising amount of heat if you run out of gas.

My husband got stuck in a drift but luckily only a few blocks from our house, after negotiating ten miles of the Broadway extension.

[bretthexum]

It really is quite sad people can't listen and stay home. Hope they can get everyone rescued...

[windowphobe]

An attempt to match up stranded people with people who'll put them up for the night:

http://blizzard.clevyr.com/

[dismayed]

Bad thing is a lot of these people have been out on the road since early this morning and started traveling into OKC long before the snowstorm hit....

[RedDirt717]

I tried to host my own little rescue mission and got minor frostbite on a few fingers before calling it quits. I'll probably go back out in a few hours after opening presents with the fam.

[dismayed]

Be careful Red if you decide to do that.

[gmwise]

Reminds me of those who drive in flooded areas.
Evolution sure needs to kick in...lol

[LakeEffect]

Reminds me of those who drive in flooded areas.
Evolution sure needs to kick in...lol

For shame. It's far too early (if ever) for jokes like that.

[RedDirt717]

Reminds me of those who drive in flooded areas.
Evolution sure needs to kick in...lol

I guess people trying to spend time with loved ones for Christmas are genetically inferior....

[RedDirt717]

Be careful Red if you decide to do that.

I'm actually going back out to help some people, and get food to people stranded. The frost bite was only stage 1 and 2 I'll be fine.

Got to take care of my fellow Oklahomans and those passing through.

[Bostonfan]

It really is quite sad people can't listen and stay home. Hope they can get everyone rescued...

Exactly. I know there were people who had no choice, and I feel for them. The others just don't seem to grasp the words, "do not get out unless you have to". Either they think they HAD to go shopping (or whatever), or they are missing something upstairs. Sad either way.

[angel27]

We had a family gathering scheduled. My son drove to work and got stranded, my husband went to rescue him - took him 2 hours to get to him. 4 wheel drive and creative driving got them back. Then we went to my other son's house since we had the transport to do it. I could not believe the number of stalled cars and semis along streets and highways, at intersections and inclines. Memorial was impassable, we had to backtrack. Most shocking were those still in their cars, not able to go anywhere. I felt awful not able to offer them a hand, but we were full. I know we passed by hundreds of stalled vehicles from 23rd to Edmond and back. It looked like the end had come. I'm glad to hear the National Guard is being sent out to help. Keep them in your prayers.

[nik4411]

im actually over in fort smith, we got some nice snow.
what were the totals over around the city?

[adaniel]

The others just don't seem to grasp the words, "do not get out unless you have to". Either they think they HAD to go shopping (or whatever), or they are missing something upstairs. Sad either way.

This.

I am actually in Dallas at my folks house where we got a measly 2 inches of snow. I am following twitter feeds and its absolutley heartbreaking how many posts say something like "my husbands stranded and running out of gas" etc. It is such a shame, people are literally dying out there. I will save my rant about what I think about people getting out in this until everyone is accounted for.

In the mean time, if anyone lives in Norman remotely close to I-35, please just peak out you window and see if anyone needs help. According to the twitter feeds I'm seeing there are possibly hundreds of people still on that highway alone.

[blangtang]

its terrible but i told my sister that there would be many people dead in the morning. bah

[soonerguru]

Reminds me of those who drive in flooded areas.
Evolution sure needs to kick in...lol

Classy. This is no laughing matter.

[soonerguru]

im actually over in fort smith, we got some nice snow.
what were the totals over around the city?

It's mentioned throughout the thread.

[oklanole]

It's mentioned throughout the thread.

Now wouldn't it have been quicker to type 11-14 inches? Besides unless this thread gets merged, it isn't mentioned once here.

[mikesimpsons82]

It's mentioned throughout the thread.

No it's not. Reading isn't your strong suit, is it?

[Spartan]

Reminds me of those who drive in flooded areas.
Evolution sure needs to kick in...lol

Lol. I wouldn't have necessarily posted anything like this, but sometimes I share the sentiment. It is crazy to me to come home and watch how helpless everyone here is after what I'd call a baby blizzard. I think it's kind of funny how Okies brag about how they handle so many different extremes of weather. Well they really don't handle the different weather extremes well, they just barely manage to survive it to be able to brag about it to people that do actually handle adverse weather well.

Someone from Chicago says, "Wow I sure would love to have the nice, warm weather where you're from." Okie says, "Oh yeah it's great in the summer when it's hot. But I especially love the floods, and the tornadoes, and the ice storms. Yeah I'm real bad ass you know." (not word for word, but it always goes something like that)

[betts]

The difference between Oklahoma City and northern cities, in terms of their ability to deal with significant snowfall, has to do with equipment owned by the city and the citizens. If you lived in Minnesota, you'd either have a four-wheel drive vehicle, or you'd have snowtires or chains on your vehicle. The city would own a large number of snow removal devices and would be working tirelessly removing snow, salting and/or sanding streets.

So while this blizzard, because yes, after spending years living in Minnesota and Colorado, I would term this a blizzard, might not have the signficant number of inches of snow deposited you would see in some northern cities, our ability to deal effectively with the snow we got makes it significant. The fact that it was on Christmas, which increased the number of travelers on the roads makes it significant.

It's not cost effective, in a city that sees one to three usually minor snowfalls a year, to own the amount of snow removal equipment that would make this blizzard less significant. It's not cost effective for people to all own four wheel drive vehicles or have snowtires on their cars or even to purchase chains in Oklahoma City. So, I don't think our inability to deal with fourteen inches of snow is anything to be ashamed of. This is an unusual event, and so unusual situations have occurred. There shouldn't be any stone-throwing, because it's a random occurrence. The weathermen last night were predicting far less snowfall in Oklahoma City, and I don't think most of us were prepared for this.

[oneforone]

It's is very easy to Monday Morning Quarterback this storm however, when was the last time a snow storm this bad hit the metro or the state for that matter? 1987.

How many snow and ice storms have come and gone since then? Dozens. Therefore, the average person has the mentality of "I can navigate this as long as I take it easy and drive with caution."

Not to mention, everybody and their dog is out running around chasing last minute Christmas items. (The present they forgot, the item that has been out of stock forever, last minute food items, etc. etc.)

This could have been much worse if this had hit a week or two ago when kids were in school and the majority of the people in the city would have been at work or commuting to/from work.

I have never missed a day of work because of a snow storm. I work for one of the city's hospital systems. In fact, I got out in it early to assist one of our sister hospitals with winter weather coverage.

I left North OKC at 2:00 to go to my workplace near Midwest City. I did not make it to the east side of the city until almost 5:00. I was in gridlock on May Avenue between NW 45th and I-44 for almost an hour. When I finally reached I-44, they had closed the interstates.

I continued down May Avenue where I met another gridlock in front of Taft Middle School. I was good and frustrated by then and I was not about to spend another hour waiting in traffic. I turned off of May and starting using side streets.

Luckily my 3 years of delivering televisions for a living paid off. I used every short cut I could think of to navigate my way east to Midwest City.

Normally, I am one of the most cautious drivers in the world. I make every effort to follow the traffic rules and drive safe. I have been driving for over 20 years with no traffic violations. I have never been pulled over by the police.

Yesterday, that went out the window. Everytime I stopped, I got stuck in the snow. I weaved around other cars. I drove on the wrong side the road. I only stopped at lights and stop signs when traffic was present.

After about three times of getting stuck, I threw in the towel. I had about 5 more miles to get to work and about 1 mile from the house. I called in to work and told them I was not coming in. I was not taking the chance of getting stuck again.

At that point, I did not care if they fired me. I wanted to be home and out of mess. I have to say my thoughts and prayers are with those out there still trying to make it home.

[LakeEffect]

Fun fact - a blizzard does not require snow. A blizzard is only declared with the wind is sustained at 35 mph leading to blowing snow and causing visibilities of 1⁄4 mile or less, lasting for at least 3 hours. Snow fall amounts are independent of blizzard conditions. Therefore, when 14 inches of snow falls in less than 24 hours, in blizzard conditions, no matter where you are, problems will ensue.

I grew up in Michigan, and I always gripe about OKC's snow removal efforts in small, non-blizzard events. Being out in Bowie and Wichita Falls, Texas yesterday (11 inches and 7.8 inches of snow respectively yesterday), I can tell that this storm would have snarled any well-machined snow removal city/state.

My main issue might be with communication. Unfortunately, since I wasn't in OKC, I can't really speak about the issue, but watching events unfold via Twitter and local TV station websites, it seemed as though that people weren't getting effective communication about the severity of the storm. The Wichita Falls/Lawton CBS affiliate was commenting at 10:00 pm last night that they were frustrated with the lack of information presented locally. I also wonder if there was dis-belief and cynicism toward the TV station predictions about this storm after last year's "BIG STORM" prediction that went flat, and those attitudes led people to be more risky than usual...