Snowpocalypse: How a Winter Storm Trapped an American City (RCR Stories)

Опубликовано 24 января 2026, 15:00

A winter storm is a reminder of how fragile modern transportation really is. Roads freeze. Traffic slows. Emergency services struggle to move. Most of the time, we assume it will sort itself out. But on a regular Tuesday in January 2014, it didn’t.

During Atlanta’s Snowpocalypse, just two inches of snow triggered a complete transportation collapse. Highways locked up. Thousands of cars were abandoned. Children slept overnight in schools. Parents walked miles through freezing conditions to reach them. Emergency vehicles couldn’t move. A modern American city became trapped in place.

In this episode of RCR Stories, I'll explain how the Snowpocalypse happened, why one of America's busiest cities was caught unprepared, and who, if anyone, was to blame for the catastrophe. Because transportation infrastructure is a lot like cars themselves. When they fail, they don’t fail gradually. This is the story of the Snowpocalypse, and it's not just a warning about what happens when reality comes down on infrastructure, but a tale of how community and human perseverance will triumph over despair every time.

Referenced in this episode:
The 12-Day Traffic Jam (RCR Stories): youtu.be/vUuCZpktoIk?si=S61y3p...

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Timestamps:
00:00 Prologue
01:23 How It Started
14:09 How People Survived (And Helped Strangers)
22:55 Whose Fault Was It?
35:13 What Happened After It Ended (Epilogue)
38:41 Sources and Photo Credits