Atlanta road crews canvassing city to treat ice as officials brace for power outages

Atlanta road crews worked throughout the night to battle freezing rain that’s turning streets into skating rinks across the city.

Anne Torres, a spokesperson for Mayor Kasim Reed, said 54 road crews have canvassed across the city, dumping more than 2,000 tons of salt and aggregate materials to treat the icy roadways.

That leaves the city with less than 1,000 tons of salt mix to spare as Atlantans brace for the worst of Winter Storm Pax. Atlanta officials are working to replenish their supply, Torres said.

For the remainder of the morning, the crews — 20 from the city’s Department of Public Works and 34 from private contractors — will focus on plowing the accumulated slush off the roadways before spreading more salt mixture on the roads, she said.

Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran said ice and power outages top the city’s concerns. Atlanta public safety officials are preparing for outages that could last as long as a week. They have opened a swath of shelters across the city to house people from the cold.

“We’re going to have huge challenges with downed trees and power lines,” Cochran said Tuesday. “Some will be non-emergency and some will be life-threatening. We certainly expect that in the next 72 hours.”

More than 27,000 power outages were reported across the state by Wednesday morning, with more than 14,000 in the region. By contrast, only a handful of outages have been reported within city limits, a number officials expect to grow throughout the day.