- Warm weather is doing what government officials could not
- The last vehicles were being picked up from interstates
- Mayor Reed says lack of experience played a role
Atlanta (CNN) -- A day after Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal apologized for mishandling Tuesday's snowfall, which paralyzed Atlanta and resulted in commutes that exceeded 20 hours for some people, temperatures rose above freezing Friday and the city too busy to hate moved on.
The last of the more-than 2,000 cars that were abandoned when 2.6 inches of snow overwhelmed Atlanta's ability to cope were being picked up. By Friday morning, only about a dozen were left on interstates and state roads, said Ken Davis, a spokesman for Georgia's Emergency Management Agency.
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Government help, which many said was impossible to find in the immediate aftermath of the storm, was available Thursday, when the National Guard and State Patrol offered free rides to abandoned cars, five free gallons of gas and a jump-start.
On Thursday night, the state began towing -- at state expense -- unclaimed cars.
The Atlanta Police Department said it would waive impounding fees for those cars it towed, though it just was of many agencies dealing with abandoned cars.
By Sunday, the temperature should reach the 60's in parts of the Southeast.
Political aftermath
Deal's apology came at the top of his news conference.
"I accept responsibility for the fact that we did not make preparation early enough to avoid these consequences," Deal said Thursday. "I'm not looking for a scapegoat. I'm the governor, the buck stops with me."
He vowed to move more aggressively and more quickly before any future storms, even if that means more false alarms.
Many people spent the night in their cars Tuesday, trapped in the gridlock. Some students were stuck on school buses, others had to shelter overnight in their schools.
GEMA's director apologized for not cranking up emergency operations six hours earlier than he did.
"I got this one wrong," Charley English said.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed cited the mass exodus from his city as largely responsible for the gridlock and said the schedule for sending people home should have occurred in shifts.
He acknowledged that a "lack of experience" in dealing with "severe weather events" in Atlanta played a role.
Monster sprawl
Reed has managerial control over most, but not all, of Fulton County. But greater Atlanta comprises 28 counties with 140 cities and towns sprawled over an area the size of Massachusetts, and Reed does not have administrative power over them.
That needs to change, according to retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who coordinated relief efforts along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.
"They need to have in Atlanta the same type of government you have in New York, where the mayor controls the city and everything around that city, and the mayor can make decisions on road closures; he has emergency powers as when schools close," he said.
CNN's Ed Payne, Vivian Kuo, Holly Yan and Greg Botelho contributed to this report
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