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Last Cars Towed In Atlanta; Ice Is Gone, Traffic Is Moving

Contractors, volunteers and members of the Georgia National Guard helped move this car on Thursday. It was one of more than 2,000 vehicles abandoned Tuesday when a wicked winter storm left roads covered in ice.
Brant Sanderlin
/
MCT/Landov
Contractors, volunteers and members of the Georgia National Guard helped move this car on Thursday. It was one of more than 2,000 vehicles abandoned Tuesday when a wicked winter storm left roads covered in ice.

Georgia state troopers finished towing vehicles off Atlanta-area interstates early Friday morning, and three days after ice-covered roads forced thousands of drivers to abandon their cars, traffic is finally flowing freely, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

More than 2,000 vehicles had been abandoned. As we've reported, the state police and National Guard spent the better part of the past 36 hours helping drivers get back to their cars and then get them started again.

According to the Journal-Constitution, 147 vehicles were impounded and towed because no one had shown up to claim them. The owners can retrieve them for free. There's information on how to find a towed car posted here.

As our colleagues at WABE report, the storm redefined the words "long commute" for many in Atlanta. They're sharing the story of one woman who spent 12 hours getting home.

"I was so relieved that I hugged my husband and ran to the bathroom," Renee Parent tells WABE.

As the station adds, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) has "apologized to those who were stranded on interstates or had children stuck at school," called for a review of the state's response, and rejected suggestions that he fire the head of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.

Related:Brain Surgeon Walks 6 Miles Through Storm To Save Patient.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.