What, exactly, is involved in a preparing for, responding to and recovering from a Southern snow storm?
In Gwinnett County, the answer involves (but is not limited to) the following: a couple days off of school, lots of brine, tons and tons and tons of salt, hundreds of police and medical calls, a few fires — and some very long hours.
MORE: Gwinnett police respond to nearly 1,200 calls in 36 hours
MORE: Snow in Gwinnett: Thursday closures, delays, road conditions
Exact numbers weren’t yet available regarding the overall cost to the county in money and manpower, and the recovery is ongoing. But Gwinnett officials provided a few statistics and a clearer timeline of the county’s response.
According to Gwinnett spokesman Joe Sorenson, local Department of Transportation workers began treating “major” roads with brine on Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday, crews clocked in at 4 a.m. to staff six trucks and start spreading salt and sand.
By 7:30 a.m. that day, 14 more salt and sand trucks were on the road. By the end of the day, roughly 800 tons of the mixture —1.6 million pounds — were spread.
Four trucks plowed the county’s four-lane roads from 3 p.m. until dark.
Two salt-and-sand crews were back in action by midnight, then more Thursday reinforcements returned in waves — six crews clocked in at 4:30 a.m., a dozen more at 7:30 a.m.
By the end of Thursday, they’ll have spread another 600 tons of salt and sand. Gwinnett DOT will have responded to nearly 400 calls about specific icy patches.
On Wednesday morning, at least 17 intersections in unincorporated Gwinnett were closed due to ice and snow. By Thursday morning, it was only one (though some side streets and neighborhood streets still had ice issues).
Gwinnett’s police and fire departments stayed busy as well.
In the 36 hours that ended at noon on Thursday, police had responded to about 1,140 traffic-related calls. Those calls included accidents, hit-and-runs, street hazards, folks in need of assistance and stranded motorists.
Firefighters and emergency personnel responded to more than 100 calls in the first 12 hours or so after the snow alone.
Gwinnett also opened a "warming center" for those in need, something it hasn't historically done. Seven people were served at the center at Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Norcross while it was open, Sorenson said.
DOT crews were spending Thursday afternoon treating shaded areas, he said.
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