Gov. Deal: State government offices will remain closed Thursday
DALTON, Ga. - Gov. Nathan Deal says state government offices will remain closed Thursday for non-essential employees.
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The governor issued a state of emergency for 83 counties, which covers much of north and central Georgia. Those under the state of emergency are in the counties north of a line from Columbus to Macon to Augusta.
“Our top priority is to ensure the safety of Georgians and to allow the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) to continue doing its job,” Gov. Deal said on Wednesday. “Due to yesterday’s winter weather and continued freezing temperatures, ice continues accumulating on our roadways. GDOT is responsible for the maintenance of more than 17,900 miles of state roads and interstates. Currently, there are more than 12,800 miles remaining to be cleared and treated. In light of this, I urge people to stay home, stay safe and remain off our roadways. We will continue monitoring the weather and will provide updates as necessary.”
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GDOT continues to warn people to stay off the roads and avoid non-essential travel. A DOT spokesperson said the agency had widespread reports of ice on roads. The agency was working to make highways safer, but the job was made more difficult by the fact that snow fell across such a wide area of the state.
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"Everyone needs to just slow down, take your time and get where you want to go safely. It's just not that serious and you'll get there if you take your time," Dalton native Debra Pourquoui told FOX 5's Portia Bruner.
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Lots of folks hustled to finish up their grocery shopping Tuesday before the snow arrived, but some were surprised to discover many essentials were already gone.
"We usually shop on Tuesdays, but we had to load up today and the cheap bread was already gone. We had to get the expensive stuff today," said Keith Duarte as he loaded up his car with several bags of groceries.
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Brine trucks have been treating roads for icy conditions. Each truck can treat about 20 miles of roadway per load. Transportation experts said it is actually cheaper to treat the roads ahead of potential winter weather than to react to it.
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“We always plan for the worst and hope for the best,” said Bill Shelton, Cobb DOT Road Maintenance Division Manager.
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County officials said residents can see roads actively being treated in the county by going to cobbcommute.com, and clicking “inclement weather”. The roads will be highlighted in purple.
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Most people we spoke to were excited about the snow day Wednesday.
"I'm tickled to death with it I'm retired so it doesn't matter to me if it snows, let it snow let it snow let it snow,” said James Kirk who lives in Cobb.
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Ahead of the snow, at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Delta waived certain fees for people who needed to rebook Tuesday and Wednesday both to and from Atlanta. Delta officials also tell passengers to check their flight status on their website or app before heading to the airport.
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The snowflakes started falling around 7:15 p.m. in the downtown Carrollton area where people at a BP gas station on Bankhead Highway had earlier cleared out many of the shelves.
"They wiped me out on milk, they wiped me out on gallons of water. So hopefully they miss it this time and it won't be so bad like it was last time. You say snow and everybody goes crazy," said Tiffany Bishop, the clerk at the store.
This latest snow follows last month’s ten inches of the white stuff in Carroll County. The county has eight motor graders and two plow trucks along with 20 people to operate them who were ready to go.
"You know we got the ten inches of snow we worked thirty-three hours straight. So hopefully they miss it this time and it won't be so bad like it was last time," said Pope.
Georgia's Department of transportation was already in place to treat state highways coming into Carrollton where some school kids in the Carrollton school district were already giddy about tomorrow.
"No, sir they canceled it [school]. It's pretty cool," said Kimberly Cheeks, a student at a Carrollton School.
"Yeah, cause tonight she's going to spend the night with a friend so yeah it's a good thing," said Kimberly Cheeks, her parent.
Carroll County road crews told FOX 5 News they'd stay on the job until it was safe for people to travel area county roads.
On the other side of the metro, DeKalb County opened three warming stations:
- Fire Station 3, 100 N. Clarendon Ave
- Fire Station 6, 2342 Flat Shoals Road
- Fire Station 21, 1090 Crown Point Pkwy
In Gwinnett County, a warming center opened up Tuesday afternoon at Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Norcross.