Trapped drivers are forced to sleep in cars as 'Snowmageddon' causes 15-hour traffic jam and brings cities to standstill

Thousands of drivers on a Georgia highway found themselves in a 15-hour traffic jam caused by the rare snowstorm that hit the southern US a day before.

Many were forced to sleep in their own vehicles until shortly before noon on January 22 as temperatures fell from 29F to 14F.  

The stand still happened in Monroe County, approximately 60 miles southwest of Atlanta, and ended when the Georgia State Patrol cleared the clogged northbound side of Interstate-75. 

According to Fox5, Forsyth in metro Atlanta received 2.2 inches snow - highest in the Atlanta area while the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport set a record after receiving 1.1 inches. 

Icy pavement and several accidents north of Forsyth caused the backup, according to Anna Watkins, a spokeswoman for the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. 

The Georgia Department of Transportation reportedly laid down a layer of deicing chemicals before the storm.

However the once-in-a-lifetime snowfall event covered most of Atlanta in about an inch of snow except for Kennesaw, Marietta and Acworth - leaving many underprepared. 

The areas of Cordele in Crisp County ended up being covered in nine inches of slush while Camilla in Mitchell County received eight - both highest in the state.

Emma Worley told WSBTV that she was driving home to Cherokee County from Savannah when she got stuck on Tuesday night just north of the Georgia Highway 42 exit. By 11am on Wednesday, she said she had barely moved.

'I haven't slept,' Worley said. 'I've never experienced anything like this my whole entire life.'

She said she waited 15 hours with 'no food, no sleep, no nothing.'

James Talabert and his girlfriend were also stuck in the jam, but had a much longer trip ahead of them. They were driving from Miami, Florida, to Minnesota.

'We don't have anything to eat,' Talabert said. 'We only have water and we've been here since last night. It's kind of ridiculous.'

Mark Coombs was on his way back from Americus, Georgia, to his home in Locust Grove, which is normally a mere half-hour drive from where he got stuck.

'It is what it is,' Coombs said, adding that he grew up in the north, where snow is much more common and authorities are usually better prepared. 'You go out in bad weather, you gotta deal with it.'

But as sunny temperatures began melting the blizzard away, Georgia's Emergency Management Agency warned of residents to avoid driving after sunset.

'A refreeze is likely again tonight once the sun goes down and any remnant water, snow and/or ice will refreeze overnight. Black Ice is possible for locations with snow/ice still on the ground, so as a safety precaution, please stay home and off the roads once the sun goes down,' the agency wrote in an X post. 

The southbound lanes of I-75 weren't affected and traffic on both sides was moving normally by the mid-afternoon on Wednesday.

The historic storm this week dumped record-breaking levels of snow across roughly 1500 miles of the South, most notably blanketing large areas of Texas, Louisiana and Florida.

It closed airports, crippled roadways and led to the deaths of at least 10 people, according ABC 7.

As of Wednesday night, there were seven people reported dead in Texas, two in Alabama and at least one person killed in Georgia.

Nearly 2,000 flights to, from or within the U.S. were canceled Tuesday, with about 10,000 others delayed, according to online tracker FlightAware.com. More than 1,800 flights have been canceled on Wednesday.

Many areas saw more snow than they had since the 1880s, and frigidly cold temperatures allowed some in New Orleans to play ice hockey on frozen city streets or fashion makeshift ski courses to traverse.