CLOSE Atlanta hasn't even thawed out yet but the blame game has already started. Even Al Roker is chiming in on the mess, heavily criticizing Atlanta's mayor and Georgia's governor for the second winter storm to cripple the city in just 3 years. VPC 
 
 Thousands of students were stranded at schools in the Atlanta area. 
 
 Matthew Miller walks along the Southbound Connector offering peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and hot drinks to motorists stuck in traffic in Atlanta. Miller, who lives in Grant Park, heard about the stranded motorists and decided to help. (Photo: Ben Gray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, via AP) Story Highlights Arctic blast has left much of Atlanta paralyzed 
 
 National Weather Service criticized for its forecast 
 
 ATLANTA — The arctic blast crippling much of the deep South has caused at least 13 deaths and created havoc for millions, prompting six states to declare emergencies and bringing criticism on the National Weather Service for its forecasting. 
 
 Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, who mobilized the National Guard on Wednesday to rescue Atlanta-area motorists stranded on snarled, icebound freeways, blamed the state's early response on the Weather Service, which predicted the chaotic storm would hit farther south. 
 
 Tuesday's snowfall brought just 2.6 inches of snow to Atlanta, but it was a one-day record and enough to hamstring the region, creating nightmares for commuters, truckers, students and their families. Hundreds of flights were grounded at Hartsfield International Airport — the nation's busiest. 
 
 Deal declared a state of emergency for Georgia. Similar declarations were issued for Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina, At least nine people died in traffic accidents, including five in Alabama, two in North Carolina and 1 in Florida. Four people, including a three-month-old infant, were killed early Tuesday in a Mississippi mobile home fire near Fulton caused by a faulty space heater. 
 
 Some commuters in the Atlanta metro area pleaded for help via cellphones while holed up in their cars; others gave up and trudged miles to their homes. Deal said there had been "significant progress" rescuing kids stranded at schools in counties around Atlanta, but at least 2,000 remained at schools in Atlanta, Fulton, Cobb and Douglas Counties. 
 
 Marshall Shepherd, a meteorologist with the University of Georgia and president of the American Meteorological Society, said neither meteorologists nor the forecast for the Atlanta area was to blame. 
 
 "The buses had a tough time getting kids home, but meteorologists should not be thrown under the bus," he said. 
 
 At 3:39 a.m. Tuesday, Marshall said the weather service issued a winter storm warning for the entire Atlanta metro area, expecting 1-2 inches of snow. "Overall, the Atlanta event was a well-forecasted and well-warned event," he said. 
 
 The weather service did say in an online briefing Tuesday morning, "Leave work early if you can to avoid the rush and wintry precipitation combination." Drivers did so, which is what led to the traffic chaos. 
 
 Deal said the weather service "had continually had modeling showing Atlanta would not be the primary area (of the storm). It would be south of Atlanta." 
 
 Politicians of weather-stricken cities and states often face harsh criticism for slow response to disasters. Deal, a Republican, faces re-election this year. He said his goal was to reach every stranded driver "and make sure we have enough shelter to get them off the roads and get them someplace warm." 
 
 Along with Deal, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is likely to face scrutiny in the coming days over the handling of the storm. 
 
 CLOSE Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal blames the National Weather Service for Atlanta's gridlock problems but says he is willing to take whatever blame comes his way. VPC 
 
 Today meteorologist Al Roker said the traffic nightmare in Atlanta was caused by "poor planning on the mayor and governor's part." Dalton, Ga., Mayor David Pennington, who's running against Deal for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, said, "Government's primary role is to protect the people; Nathan Deal has failed miserably once again." 
 
 "I'm willing to accept whatever blame comes my way," Deal said. "And if I'm responsible for it, I'll accept that." 
 
 Reed defended his handling of the situation. "We got 1 million people out of the city of Atlanta in about 12 hours," Reed said. Moreover, the city's response was better than after "Snowmageddon 2011," the winter storm that paralyzed the Atlanta metro that year, Reed said. "Unlike the last event, when we had four pieces of equipment in Atlanta, this time we had 70 pieces of equipment, and we knew how to use it." 
 
 STORY: Heroes emerge from storm chaos 
 
 STORY: Atlanta 'like a scene from 'The Walking Dead' 
 
 STORY: Storm woes depend on where you live 
 
 Reed said many of stranded motorists were on interstate highways, which are maintained by the state. 
 
 "This has been an ordeal for everyone," said Georgia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Natalie Dale. "This storm and the bitter temperatures have caused so much difficulty, discomfort and anxiety for so many Georgians. We believe roadways will be restored to some level of normalcy today but would encourage the public to remain home, preferably all day." 
 
 A police officer in suburban Atlanta helped assist the safe delivery of a baby girl on a gridlocked interstate Tuesday after snow and ice brought traffic to a crawl. 
 
 Southbound traffic on Interstate 575 between Georgia Highway 20 and Riverstone Parkway is bottlenecked Jan. 28 in Canton, Ga. (Photo: Kelly J. Huff, AP) 
 
 Sandy Springs Police Capt. Steve Rose told the Associated Press that a traffic officer arrived on the scene minutes before the infant. 
 
 A vehicle ran off the road during a snowstorm Jan. 28 in Canton, Ga. (Photo: Kelly J. Huff, The Marietta Daily Journal, via AP) 
 
 "Fortunately he had his emergency lights on and people got out of his way," Rose said. "The delivery was pretty flawless." 
 
 Debbie Hartwig, a waitress at an Atlanta area waffle house, said she managed to keep her cool thanks in part to the kindness of strangers after 10 hours on the road. 
 
 "I'm calm," she said. "That's all you can be. People are helping each other out, people are moving cars that have spun out or had become disabled. It's been really nice. I even saw people passing out hot coffee and granola bars." 
 
 In Alabama, where the storm stranded thousands at work, school or in cars overnight, mass school and business closings remained in Birmingham and Mobile. Gov. Robert Bentley's office said rescue personnel and medics in state aircraft were flying over Jefferson and Shelby counties conducting search and rescue missions for stranded motorists. 
 
 Both the timing and the amount of snow was not accurately forecast in Birmingham. Well-known Alabama TV meteorologist James Spann of ABC 33/40 said, "In terms of human impact, yesterday's forecast 'bust' was the most significant for me since January 1982." 
 
 "I will say I have never seen this kind of impact on roads with 1 to 2 inches of snow in Alabama in my 35 years as a professional meteorologist. There was clear human suffering as a result of my bad forecast," Spann said. 
 
 Louisiana highway officials closed over 20 highways due to icy conditions, including Interstate 10. There were limited flights in and out of New Orleans' Louis Armstrong International Airport. 
 
 In South Carolina, state police reported over 800 traffic collisions since Tuesday afternoon. The Arthur Ravenel Bridge linking Charleston and Mount Pleasant on U.S. 17, as well as the bridges linking the two communities on Interstate 526 remained closed Wednesday afternoon. Bridges linking Hilton Head Island to the mainland were also closed for a time at midday Wednesday because of accidents on the icy spans. 
 
 While the storm that gripped much of the Deep South has moved into the Atlantic, there is little chance of significant melting of untreated roads and bridges until Thursday. Most residents are unaccustomed to driving in such conditions. 
 
 Jeff Cox, a Dunkin' Donuts store manager in Montgomery, AL., said he fishtailed several times in his Nissan Pathfinder going home from work. 
 
 "You feel helpless when your car is going sideways," he said. "We don't get this a lot. I don't think anybody here was really prepared. There was so much ice on the road, you were easily slipping and sliding. The South is just not equipped to have this much ice on the road." 
 
 Contributing: Talia Richman, in McLean, Va.; Associated Press 
 
 CLOSE A winter storm brought snow to metro Atlanta Tuesday afternoon, bringing traffic to a grinding halt. VPC 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1iKNRKx 

 Story highlights People who left cars on Atlanta interstates are being told to go to staging areas Thursday 
 
 Fuel and the capability to jump dead batteries will be made available, officials say 
 
 About 200 children remain trapped at schools in Alabama, the governor says 
 
 At least 10 people have been killed in weather-related incidents across the Southeast 
 
 Empty streets, shuttered storefronts and abandoned vehicles littering the side of the road. 
 
 That was the scene across much of metropolitan Atlanta on Wednesday as people hunkered down to wait out the aftermath of a snow and ice storm that brought the nation's ninth-largest metropolitan area to a screeching halt. 
 
 A day after up to 3 inches of snow in parts of Georgia caused horrific gridlock on ice-covered streets -- particularly in metropolitan Atlanta where thousands were trapped on the roads overnight -- several major thoroughfares remained a mess due to lingering accidents and other problems. 
 
 In neighboring Alabama, there was a similar scene playing out. 
 
 "There are still four or five areas on our interstates that are still treacherous. The traffic is still proceeding very slowly, but we are making progress," Gov. Robert Bentley said. 
 
 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A car lies half submerged in the Cahaba River in Mountain Brook, Alabama, on Thursday, January 30. The driver was able to escape before the car slid into the river during a snow storm on Tuesday and was not injured. A wave of arctic air that started over the Midwest and Plains spread to the Southeast, bringing snow, freezing ice and sleet to a region that doesn't deal with such weather very often. Hide Caption 1 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Ice forms swirls on the banks of the Cahaba River in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, on January 30. Hide Caption 2 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Travelers wait out flight delays at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on January 30. Hide Caption 3 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Cars are left abandoned at the bottom of a hill in Birmingham, Alabama, on January 30. Hide Caption 4 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Vehicles remain stranded along Interstate 20 in Leeds, Alabama, on Wednesday, January 29. Hide Caption 5 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Abandoned cars are piled up on the median of an ice-covered road in Atlanta on January 29. Hide Caption 6 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Police monitor a fire January 29 in a vehicle left overnight by a motorist who was stranded in Brookhaven, Georgia. Hide Caption 7 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A lone car travels on Interstate 75/85 in downtown Atlanta on January 29, a day after the roadway was packed with vehicles. Hide Caption 8 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Sue Morrison watches as Chris McAdams scrapes ice from her car on January 29 in Panama City Beach, Florida. Hide Caption 9 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Kevin Moore hands out snacks and water to stranded motorists on Interstate 285 in Dunwoody, Georgia, on January 29. Hide Caption 10 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Traffic is snarled along Interstate 285, north of metro Atlanta, on January 29. Hide Caption 11 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A man stands on the frozen roadway January 29 as he waits for traffic to clear along Interstate 75 in Macon, Georgia. Hide Caption 12 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Caution tape is wrapped around a car that crashed into a tree after the driver lost control in Snellville, Georgia, on January 29. Hide Caption 13 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – The ice-covered interstate highways running through Atlanta appear empty on January 29. Hide Caption 14 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Icicles hang off a camellia bush in Savannah, Georgia's historic Forsyth Park after freezing rain hit the area on January 29. Hide Caption 15 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Traffic moves past an ice-covered hill on Interstate 75 in Covington, Kentucky, on January 29. Hide Caption 16 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A police officer talks with a crash victim who was involved in a five-car pileup in Sandy Springs, Georgia, early on January 29. Hide Caption 17 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – As dawn breaks on January 29, southbound traffic is at a standstill near downtown Atlanta. Hide Caption 18 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Gavin Chambers plays an electronic game January 29 at Oak Mountain Intermediate School in Indian Springs, Alabama. The severe weather forced thousands of students to spend the night in various school buildings across the state. Hide Caption 19 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Abandoned vehicles in Dunwoody, Georgia, line Interstate 285 early on January 29. Hide Caption 20 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A DeKalb County school bus sits abandoned near Interstate 285 in Dunwoody on January 29. Hide Caption 21 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – People work to clear stranded vehicles on County Road 25 in Wilsonville, Alabama, on Tuesday, January 28. Hide Caption 22 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Snow falls on cattle at Todd Galliher's farm in Harmony, North Carolina, on January 28. Hide Caption 23 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Two women are stranded at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on January 28 after flights were canceled due to the weather. Hide Caption 24 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Motorists jam Interstate 75/85 in Atlanta on January 28. Hide Caption 25 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A semi slides off the road as the driver tries to avoid another wrecked truck as snow begins to accumulate on Interstate 65 in Clanton, Alabama, on January 28. Clanton lies between the capital, Montgomery, and the state's biggest city, Birmingham. Hide Caption 26 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A man puts sand on the steps of his business in downtown Northport, Alabama, on January 28. Northport is near Tuscaloosa in the central-west part of the state. Hide Caption 27 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Traffic travels along the highway near downtown Birmingham on January 28. Hide Caption 28 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – With temperatures around -10 degrees, commuters wait for a bus in Chicago on January 27. Hide Caption 29 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – The Duquesne Incline climbs Mount Washington across the frozen Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in downtown Pittsburgh on January 28. Hide Caption 30 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Steam rises from Lake Michigan in Chicago on Monday, January 27. Hide Caption 31 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Workers dump sand across a bridge in Covington, Louisiana, on January 27. Hide Caption 32 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A man jumps off a snow-covered sidewalk to cross a downtown Cleveland street January 27. A minor car accident is in the background. Hide Caption 33 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Ice forms as waves crash along the Lake Michigan shore January 27 in Chicago. Hide Caption 34 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A strong wind kicks up snow Sunday, January 26, in Vadnais Heights, Minnesota, creating drifts over roads and parking lots. Hide Caption 35 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – The Cincinnati neighborhood of Mount Adams is shown blanketed in snow on Saturday, January 25. Hide Caption 36 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – People walk in a snow squall January 25 in Trenton, New Jersey. Hide Caption 37 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Cars sit in drifts and plowed snow on January 25 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Hide Caption 38 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – A North Hudson County firefighter walks in front of an ice-covered vehicle near a building where a six-alarm fire was put out January 24 in Union City, New Jersey. Hide Caption 39 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Kyle Malott scraps the ice off his girlfriend's car near Covington, Louisiana, on January 24. Hide Caption 40 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Ben Eggart pushes Hannah Graham down a hill at Girard Park in Lafayette, Louisiana, on January 24. Hide Caption 41 of 42 Photos: Photos: Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. Freezing temperatures sweep U.S. – Ice floats by the Chicago skyline on Lake Michigan on Thursday, January 23. Hide Caption 42 of 42 
 
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 "We still have a number of students around the state that could potentially have to remain in school tonight, but they will be taken care of. They will be protected. They will be fed. They will stay warm." 
 
 And as bad as things remained in parts of Georgia and Alabama early Wednesday evening, state officials feared it would only get worse as the night wore on and the temperatures dropped. 
 
 They pleaded for people to stay at home. Many of the roads were littered with abandoned vehicles and remained impassible. Many of those were in the metro Atlanta area. 
 
 "We're working on clearing the abandoned vehicles. We're just pushing them to the shoulders," said Karlene Barron of the Georgia Department of Transportation. 
 
 Motorists who left their vehicles on interstates are being told to go at 10 a.m. ET Thursday to one of two staging areas, depending on where they abandoned their car or truck, according to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. 
 
 "There will be fuel available for vehicles that ran out of gas as well as the capability to jump off a dead battery," the agency said in a written statement. State police will have a database to help motorists locate their vehicle, if it was towed to an impound lot, and will provide transportation to the lot, the statement said. 
 
 Meanwhile, the interstates and ramps were being "re-treated," she said, as forecasters predicted a deep freeze overnight that will likely freeze any moisture on the roadways. 
 
 "For interstates, 100% have been cleared," Barron said. "But we haven't gotten to all the state routes, but we've pretty much touched all of the interstates. It's a very good percentage cleared." 
 
 In Georgia, the governor and the mayor acknowledged they could have planned better for the storm. 
 
 And this time, they really mean it, they said, referring to their handling of a storm three years ago. 
 
 "I'm willing to take whatever blame comes my way and, if I'm responsible for it, I will accept that," Gov. Nathan Deal told reporters. 
 
 "We all have some lessons we need to learn here from this," he said. "And I think we all will." 
 
 Thousands of schoolchildren who had been trapped on buses and in Atlanta-area schools overnight were reunited by early Wednesday evening with their families, Deal said, adding that state troopers, police or members of the National Guard escorted many of the buses. 
 
 "Last night, we had at least 95 immobile buses. We had cleared them all by this morning, and that was a big task," he said. "Our next task was getting students home from school, and now we have achieved that." 
 
 In Alabama, the weather forced more than 5,000 students to spend Tuesday night in school buildings. 
 
 Some teachers who stayed in their classrooms overnight to care for stranded students were facing a possible redux Wednesday night, according to Bentley, who said in a post on Twitter that roughly 200 schoolchildren remain stranded. 
 
 Blame game? 
 
 Earlier in the day, Deal said the need to release students, government workers and private employees in stages, instead of all at once, was a chief lesson. He blamed the mass exodus Tuesday for the gridlock that paralyzed the Atlanta metro area and left some motorists stranded for more than 12 hours. 
 
 Asked who was at fault for the gridlock, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed told CNN, "I think rather than play the blame game, we have shared responsibility. But, I want to state clearly, I don't have jurisdiction to clear interstate highways in the city of Atlanta. I'm responsible for the streets that are in the city of Atlanta. And, as of today -- one day into a severe weather event -- we got our streets cleaned. We kept our hospitals open. We kept our people safe, and the city of Atlanta is running again." 
 
 Earlier, Reed acknowledged that "we made a mistake by not staggering when people should leave, so I will take responsibility for that -- in lessons learned," he said. 
 
 "If we had to do it again, we would have said, 'Schools, you go first, private sector, you go second, and government goes last.' And so I think that would have helped." 
 
 But he said the timing of the closures was not his call. In the case of when students were sent home, it was up to the Atlanta Public Schools, and the responsibility for clearing the freeways belongs to the state, he said. 
 
 Reed said the city responded better than it did after a 2011 ice storm, which stopped the metro area dead in its tracks for four days. 
 
 The city now has 30 spreaders, 40 snowplows and 70,000 tons of sand and gravel versus just four pieces of equipment three years ago, he said. 
 
 In 2011, "nothing was done because no one had any equipment," he said. 
 
 But Tuesday's gridlock made it impossible for workers to use the equipment on many of the roads, according to Deal. "I don't know the best way to solve that," he said. 
 
 He also pointed to the complicating role played by big rigs, which he blamed for "a major portion" of the congestion as a result of jackknifing. 
 
 Deal said he based the decisions he made on the best evidence then available to him. "If we closed the city of Atlanta and our interstate system based on maybes, then we would not be a very productive government or a city," he said. "We can't do it based on the maybes." 
 
 He added, "I think we have done a reasonable job. Could we have prevented it? That's the question ... I don't think anybody can say." 
 
 Asked whether he wanted to apologize to his constituents, Deal said, "I apologize to them for the fact that they are in the situation that has occurred. If it was based on my decisions, yes, I apologize for that. Will we try to make better decisions based on the knowledge we gain from this? Yes, we will. But we can never promise because it would be an unrealistic promise, that we will always be correct when it comes to deciding what Mother Nature is going to do. Because she has a mind of her own." 
 
 Good Samaritans 
 
 Travis Zeh texted his wife around 12:45 p.m. Tuesday from Alpharetta, Georgia, telling her he was on his way to their home in Atlanta. 
 
 A day later, he made it -- after more than 25 hours. 
 
 As much as his experience, fruitlessly looking for a gas station and hotel room before finding a place to crash with friends, was unnerving and exhausting, Zeh described it as uplifting. 
 
 He has Jenny Busing and her husband Ryan to thank largely for that. After taking Zeh in, Jenny had them head out on roads around metro Atlanta's northern perimeter and I-285 off-ramps to hand out food, water and much needed energy. 
 
 That's how what was supposed to be one-hour sojourn turned into a nearly five-hour, adrenaline-fueled, overnight adventure. Led by Jenny, Zeh said they checked in on crawling motorists and, in one case, a bus with about a dozen young students to give them what they could -- even going to a gas station to restock on supplies. 
 
 "It was one of those things where you see the good in people," Zeh recalled. "We were offered money and we said keep it, use it for gas or just pay it forward." 
 
 But Zeh's experience was a mere inconvenience compared with the situation of a woman in labor in the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs. 
 
 Traffic jams blocked her way to the hospital and kept paramedics from reaching her, so -- with the aid of her husband and a police officer -- she delivered her daughter Tuesday evening. 
 
 "It was just really all a blur. My husband was driving on the side and everyone is beeping at us because they are all in gridlock," Amy Anderson told CNN's Piers Morgan on Wednesday evening. 
 
 "We came to a stop that we couldn't get through at all. That's when I told him, 'We are going to have this baby in the car.'" 
 
 Anderson said the family, which includes two other daughters, are doing well. 
 
 "When we gave her the name Grace, it just fully explained the whole situation: just by the grace of God that we all came out healthy...." 
 
 Deaths and injuries 
 
 For some, the storm had tragic results. Authorities blamed it for 10 deaths across the Southeast. 
 
 In Alabama, five people died, and 23 people were injured, the state Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday. 
 
 The governor deployed 350 National Guard troops to help motorists. 
 
 In Georgia, two storm-related deaths were confirmed. A 60-year-old woman died Tuesday afternoon in Senoia when her van drove into a ditch and overturned, the Georgia State Patrol said. 
 
 And a 17-year-old boy was killed in Henry County when his pickup struck a tree Tuesday evening, police said. 
 
 The Georgia State Patrol said it had tallied 1,254 accidents and 130 injuries. 
 
 In Mississippi, the state Emergency Management Agency reported one death in a storm-related traffic accident in Smith County. 
 
 In North Carolina, two people died in accidents, the state Department of Public Safety reported. 
 
 North Carolina state patrol officers responded to more than 3,000 service calls, including 600 on Wednesday morning, from motorists who had crashed their vehicles or abandoned them a day earlier, the public safety department said. 
 
 Still, as many accidents as there were, transportation department spokesman Steve Abbott conceded it could have been worse. 
 
 "We didn't get as much ice as we had expected," he said. 

 By Christopher Seward 
 
 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 
 
 Hundreds of motorists remained frustrated Wednesday that they could not get through to wrecker services, but the services were also frustrated, hampered by the same gridlock that has stranded thousands of drivers. 
 
 Debbie Mau, operations manager at Northside Towing, said towing companies were being bombarded with calls, but many tow trucks have not been able get to them either because of gridlock on interstates and side streets, icy conditions and, in some cases, lack of access to diesel fuel. 
 
 Mau said four other “mom-and-pop” companies she talked with were having the same problems Northside was having. The company doesn’t have expensive tire chains for trucks, and larger flatbeds don’t have the weight that creates the traction to reach motorists. 
 
 “This happens once in a blue moon,” Mau said of the ice storm. ”They [tire chains] are not an item that we accessorize the trucks with. Most small companies don’t have them in Atlanta.” 
 
 Mau said Northside was able to respond to only four calls from 12:30 until 9 p.m. Tuesday. “We got over 50 or 60 requests,” she said. “The phones were just ringing off the hook. People were hanging up way before I could get to them.” Northside normally responds to about 30 calls this time of year. 
 
 Northside’s owner, Peter Hoffman, had to spend the night at the OK Café on West Paces Ferry Road near I-75. “He’s got a third of a tank of gas and he can’t find gas.” 
 
 Once wreckers reach a motorist, they also have a problem getting around other motorists to retrieve the vehicle. 
 
 The priority for some wrecker services, like South Metro Towing in southeast Atlanta, is helping law enforcement keep roads open. 
 
 “Since one o’clock yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, we’ve probably moved about 150 vehicles,” South Metro Towing owner Greg Greeson said. 
 
 “The only thing we’re doing is responding to emergency vehicle calls from the police department,” Greeson said. “Our first priority is keeping the roads open for the police department, where they can get emergency vehicles through.” 

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– The National Guard is being called in to help escort school buses as they evacuate the 2,400 students who have been trapped in Atlanta-area schools and buses since yesterday's three inches of snow, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal announced today. State police will also be involved. Deal said the state government would remain closed tomorrow, and urged people to stay off the roads, CNN reports. Many commuters are still stranded in cars on the highway, and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said the city's top priority was to get food, water, and gasoline to them, according to USA Today. Both Reed and Deal defended their storm response, with Reed saying he was "not going to get into the blame game," according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Reed reveals that there have been more than 791 accidents since last night. Towing companies were peppered with calls, but many couldn't help because their trucks couldn't get through the gridlock either. Tractor trailers have been especially difficult to haul off the roads. "What's in common in every single accident we have today? Tractor trailers," complained the state's deputy transportation commissioner. The death toll in Atlanta has been low, however, with one teen dying yesterday afternoon on an icy road crash. In Alabama, by contrast, five people have died and 23 been injured due to the storm.