Lessons learned from SnowedOutAtlanta

Michelle Sollicito Feb 2015

Who am I (Personal)? Mother of two children

Live in Marietta, just North of Atlanta

Run Marietta Moms (for 7 years)

Up to 500 members in the Marietta area

Facebook page MariettaMoms has 255 “likes”

Involved in Educational Advocacy

Facebook page FundCobbSchools

Successful joint campaign – Deal +$500m for Education

Now Cobb Candidate Forum too

Who am I (Professional)? 25+ years experience in IT and Websites

Lots of Business Continuity Planning/Disaster Recovery

Writer -Wrote a book about BCP/DR

Started my own company TxtToAd.com

Facebook app, mobile app and website

Read lots of business books

Facebook Effect (David Kirkpatrick)

Before The Storm Day before, warned schools might close early

Left work 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) 12pm left work

12:30pm skidded

12:45pm got home

3pm called Governor Deal to announce State of Emergency

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

Facts and Figures (Snow Day 1) 6pm – 9pm desperation started to set in

Darkness made the whole thing more scary

911 was not answering and no one was coming to accidents

Women with babies had no diapers or formula

Kids needed the bathroom

Some people needed to take meds

Women were wearing high heels and skirts, not dressed for the weather

Schoolbuses had not arrived home

Facts and Figures (Snow Day 1) Mood changed in the group after about 8pm to one of rescue

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

Facts and Figures (Snow Day 1) 400 people had been helped directly by 11pm

29,000 members by midnight

100 posts per minute, 300 new members every 15 mins

500+ people put their OWN HOME on the google map, offering shelter to strangers!

By 8:30am approx the next morning group size 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

The Emotions of It All Elizabeth’s mom

Elizabeth is an old friend of mine

Elderly mother with hip replacement and broken hip

People from the site went and sat with her, gave her blankets

Ambulance got to her 2.5 hours after Elizabeth’s first post

Katie and Craig 8 mths pregnant with a 3 yr old son in car

Only food they had was tictacs, no drinks

Deena Loetz’s son got to ER

Pregnant sister is found

Kids on schoolbuses for 12+ hours

Katie and Craig 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

Elizabeth’s Mom 9:17pm first post

10:50pm she is found by

SnowedOutAtlanta members

11:24pm ambulance arrives

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 other than the one they use

Very few people seemed to know this info was

out there

Before Storm - Utilities Many people posted info they found useful

Asked questions

Georgia Power People liked that the

utilities were so 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

Later heard 250,000+

The Emotions of It All Kelli and her 6 kids

Carroll EMC

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

Utilities Bad Vibes for some – like Georgia EMC

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 Did It Work?

SimpleUnexpectedConcreteCredibleEmotionalStories(madetostick.com)

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 Georgia Tech Emergency Communications Team impressed

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.)

What to Avoid..Using a page instead of a group

Multiple admins – one admin, one culture

Rules, rules, rules – have none

Banning or removing members from group

Uneducated facebook users

Advice..Being social means we take the rough with the smooth - it means that we ALL have free speech and others can post stuff we do not like. Unfortunately it also means others can post stuff that if we let it get to us can cause us to feel ill, even suicidal at the extreme end. Every person on Facebook has the responsiblity to notice when someone's posts are getting to them to an extent that they should not and there are many actions open to you:

Take a break from the group (leave the group completely is also an option)

Unfollow the post where comments are making you uncomfortable ( click on the down arrow at the top of the post and select turn off notifications)

Block the person who is making posts that make you uncomfortable (either unfriend them or click on their name and then click on ... on their personal page and then click block - or both)..

Report the person - if many people do this Facebook warns the user and may remove the person from Facebook. If the person has threatened someone online, Facebook will just tell you to call the police and let the police deal with it.

Report someone to the police. If someone on Facebook makes a direct death threat or threat of violence, definitely do this immediately. Also take screenshots of any evidence. Call a lawyer too.

Take a break from Facebook or even leave Facebook.

Lessons Learned 911 system failed

Functional needs community lacked support

Information was out of date and difficult to find

GA is never going to cope well with snow

GA DOT vehicles were ill equipped

Lessons Learned Governor Deal Severe Weather Task Force issues

Ready app from GEMA Communication with Meterologists improved Sensors on the roads

Many conferences and meetings for Emergency Mgt personnel to talk about improvements

Joint effort Companies (Home Depot, Kroger, Waffle House, etc.) Individuals Faith based organizations VOADs (Voluntary organizations like Red Cross)

Cobb County EMA (Bernard King) Tiered 911 with CERT support CERT push Exercises/drills

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!

If you need me..

Questions? Help? Consultancy available

Cell: 678 357 3661

Email: michelle.sollicito@yahoo.com

Tips, ideas and eBook and Paperback available

http://www.snowedoutatl.com

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