(The Center Square) – Georgians of a certain age remember two major winter events – the blizzard of 1993 and the “Snowjam” of 2014.
The blizzard is called a one-in-a-lifetime event in the state, but 2014’s debacle was blamed on state officials’ failure to plan.
Gov. Brian Kemp and emergency officials were clear in a news conference Friday that this time, they were prepared.
The Department of Transportation brined over 20,000 miles of roadway on I-75 from Macon to the Tennessee line and I-20 from Alabama to South Carolina and everything above that line, said Commissioner Russell McMurry. Bridges and overpasses were pretreated with 770 tons of salt, he said.
“Where we are now is to plow the roads,” McMurry said. “We are going to try to get a couple of lanes passable, plowing the slush and the snow that is out there off to the side such that we can retreat, with brine, salt and sand mixture later as this frozen precipitation is supposed to come down later.”
More than 300 snow plows are out clearing roadways.
Transportation crews started their preparation on Wednesday, according to McMurry. Kemp also got ahead of the storm by closing state offices that day and declaring a state of emergency on Thursday.
In 2014, former Gov. Nathan Deal did not declare a state of emergency until five hours after the snow fell. By that time, Atlanta’s highways had several abandoned cars that prevented emergency crews from clearing roads. The estimated cost of damages from wrecks, damaged vehicles and burst pipes was about $10 million, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said.
The state learned a lot from 2014, said Georgia Emergency Management Agency Director James Stallings. The state is being proactive about getting stranded vehicles out of the way.
“The one thing you can’t do with snow and ice is get behind it,” Stallings said. “You have to constantly stay in front of it.”
State officials are anticipating the now will turn into a wintry mix of freezing rain and sleet later Friday, which could lead to more road problems and possible power outages.
