As the metro area prepares for what the National Weather Service described Tuesday morning as "crippling ice totals from Atlanta eastward along the I-20 corridor," we're sure you have lots of questions about the winter storm and how it will impact you. If you have helpful information, please share that, too.
Submit your questions in the comments field below and the staff of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will do its best to answer them.
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Question from KadeByrand: How long should power be down?
Answer: While that is hard to answer, Georgia Power's chief emergency executive, Aaron Strickland, said Tuesday that people should "be prepared to be without power for days." Much of Georgia will be slammed with sleet, ice, snow and high winds in the hours before daybreak Wednesday and there could be power outages that will rival the days thousands went without electricity in 2000, the National Weather Service said Tuesday.
Questions from snowbug: Currently in Marietta with little supplies should the power go out. Should we try to make it to family in Adairsville (they're fully equipped) in the next couple hours, or stay put because of road conditions?
Answer: As Gov. Nathan Deal said Monday, use your best judgment. Before you make a decision, make sure you monitor updates from the National Weather Service.
Question from GregoryBrandyburg: Is DeKalb county and Gwinnett county part of the state of emergency? I live in DeKalb county but work in Gwinnett county overnight.
Answer: Gov. Deal signed two state of emergency orders Monday. The last one included DeKalb and Gwinnett. And just before noon Tuesday, President Obama declared an emergency in the state and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts.
Question from buenavista886: I'm new to the area, and am not familiar with radio news sources yet. What station(s) should I be tuning into to receive my information if/once the power goes out?
Answer: Listen to our news partners at 95.5 FM & AM 750 News/Talk WSB.
Question from EKATL: Is the water safe to drink if the power goes out? How will we know if it is not?
Answer: It's a good idea to have bottled water on hand during a weather emergency. Authorities will issue an advisory if the water is not safe.
Question from Calamari: Are there any emergency storm shelters in DeKalb County?
Answer: We do know that Brookhaven has established three emergency warming shelters for stranded motorists and residents without power.
1. Brookhaven Police Department
2665 Buford Highway, Brookhaven, GA
2. DeKalb Fire Station #2
1316 Dresden Drive NE, Brookhaven, GA
3. Cowart Family/ Ashford Dunwoody YMCA
3692 Ashford Dunwoody Road
People seeking shelter at YMCA will need to call Brookhaven Emergency Operations Center at (404) 637-0596 to gain access.
Question from Jean08: I have a Delta flight that hasn't been cancelled. It is scheduled to arrive today (Wednesday) @ 5:20 p.m. If we make it to Atlanta; will we be able to drive to our home in Woodstock? What are the road conditions?
Answer: Our recommendation is as Gov. Nathan Deal said Monday, use your best judgment. Before you make a decision, make sure you monitor updates from the National Weather Service.
Question from jgcair: Please post a list of shelters by counties. Where can a family with young children and pregnant mom go? Fire station? Churches?
Answer: Here is a map of shelters from ajc.com. You can also check the GEMA website and there are several Atlanta resources.
Questions from Wascatlady: When Ga Power says 200,000 are without power, does that include the EMC customers? And, does it count people or households? Why does the Ga Power map exclude a part of North Georgia?
Answer: The number of reported Georgia Power outages are households served by the utility. The Georgia Power outage map covers all of the utility's service area, which includes 155 out of 159 counties in the state, according to one of our reporters.
Question from dsw2contributor: Georgia Power's website will NOT accept my outage report. I logon to their website, submit an outage report, but then when I go back and check the status, their website says "Our systems indicate that your power is on."
Answer: If you are having difficulty with the website, you can also report an outage via phone by calling (888) 891-0938.
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