Oh that's terrible! I'm sorry to hear that. High winds can be so dangerous. Even emergency medical personnel and police won't go out in it when the winds get too strong.

We had about half an inch of the stuff, and the entire place closed down

Yep, it was like that in Atlanta, too. I remember the first winter I was there, they got about an inch of snow and the city was just paralyzed. They didn't know what to do. I was both amused and appalled.