Drivers stranded almost 24 hours due to rare Atlanta snowstorm (Baldwin-native shares experience)

BALDWIN, Pa. — A rare snowstorm in the south has crippled interstates around one of the country’s biggest cities -- Atlanta.

Thousands of people are still stranded in Atlanta nearly 24 hours after the storm him.

The roads became gridlocked Tuesday when schools and businesses all let out at the same time. The roads iced over, creating a huge mess.

Channel 11's Trisha Pittman (@WPXITraffic) spoke with a Pittsburgher who was caught in the middle of it all.

“I saw a lot of accidents (Tuesday) and it sort of looked like a scene from the movie Independence Day,” Baldwin-native Henry Pinnex said.

Pinnex said his normal hour-long commute turned into a 17-hour ordeal.

“We just tried to look out for one another. We all helped push each other’s cars out of the way when we got stuck,” Pinnex said. “We all shared bottles of water we might have had in our trunk. It’s definitely a camaraderie moment for all of Georgia.”

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal addressed the issue of students being forced to spend the night at schools.

“We have several major areas of concern because some of the schools had not released their students early enough,” Deal said.

Officials think it will be several days until abandoned cars are retrieved and all main interstates reopen.

WPXI