POWERGRAMS

4 Some called it "snowpocalypse," others said it was "snowmageddon," but Jan. 28 brought an unexpectedly quick and deep "dusting" of the wintry white flakes that, snow kidding, virtually shut down many parts of Alabama. It would be the first of two winter storms two weeks apart that brought snow and isolated power outages to much of Alabama Power's service territory. But the Feb. 12 snow was no surprise and caused few of the problems seen on Jan. 28. On that day, more than 1,050 people were stranded at the company's Corporate Headquarters in Birmingham when about 2 inches of snow and below-freezing temperatures made hilly areas impassable, forcing people to abandon cars along clogged roadways. Some employees were joined by spouses and children who were unable to get home or find hotel vacancies. What began as a normal day soon turned into an unprecedented emergency that would test the capabilities of employees in many departments and try the patience and endurance of virtually all inside the company's largest office complex. Two days and more than 6,315 meals served later, accolades from Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning, Alabama Power CEO Charles McCrary and many others proclaimed a job well done. "Everybody did a great job during the storm," McCrary said, citing statewide Generation, Transmission and Distribution efforts in particular. McCrary said Corporate Services Vice President Bob Weaver and his department did "a phenomenal job" in going from "zero to 100 in two seconds" to take care of employees stuck at Corporate Headquarters. "We felt like 'These are our family members and we've got to take care of them,''' said Corporate Operations Manager Stephanie Smith. About 800 employees, spouses and some of their children stayed overnight at the Inverness Office Park Building and 60 slept over at the General Services Complex on Jan. 28. Again on Jan. 29, treacherous driving conditions forced more than 400 people to stay overnight at Corporate Headquarters, while 200 remained at Inverness and 40 at the GSC. Six Aramark employees served more than 2,600 meals at Inverness during the two-day sleepover. Similar snow-in scenarios developed across the state that fateful Tuesday, continued through Wednesday and in some cases until Thursday. Some workers stayed at their posts for three days running. Many employees who eventually reached home on Jan. 28 needed four, six, eight hours or more to travel distances that normally take less than an hour. Many workers had to abandon their vehicles and walk to their homes, which in some cases were several miles away. Some employees, such as Talladega Apprentice Linemen Andrew Green, were stuck in traffic jams and forced to spend the night in their vehicles. One Security employee was stranded for 27 hours on a snowy roadway. Other employees were lucky enough to There's no business, like snow business … sAFETY Four-wheel drive vehicles, bikes were among few vehicles able to traverse city streets. u N E xpEC T ED Wi NT ER sTO R m l E AVEs m A NY Em plOYEEs sT R A N D ED OVERN i G hT Sleeping supplies were distributed to employees. Interstate roads were brought to a standstill.

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