Eatonton, about 80 miles east of Atlanta, has help from as far away as Mississippi.
Mississippi Power Co. dispatched more than a dozen trucks to Putnam County to handle the ice.
The city and county also are relying on their own forces, too.
Police, fire, rescue and hospital officials met Tuesday afternoon to review emergency plans and agreed: They were as ready as they could be. When freezing rain came, just before sunup, Putnam deputies were ready with four-wheel-drive vehicles. Hospitals had their generators ready. Firefighters were listening to police broadcasts.
The freezing rain turned to sleet. The sleet, hissing from a gray sky, bounced off windshields and roofs. By late morning, most of the secondary roads in Putnam were silvered with ice. Deputies fielded numerous reports about downed limbs and trees.
The temperature later that day hit 33 degrees – just warm enough to keep more ice from sticking on the road. Major roadways, already sanded and salted, were mostly passable – until darkness, when dropping temperatures meant more hazardous conditions.
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