As the second winter storm this year blanketed north Georgia, reporters from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution fanned out to see how people dealt with this recent blast of snow and ice.
AUGUSTA - Georgia's second-largest city was its most heavily pummeled Wednesday, buried by nearly an inch of ice that tore down branches and left thousands of residents without lights or heat.
The greater metropolitan region, home to more than a half million people, came to a virtual standstill. Government offices, businesses, schools and most restaurants closed their doors.
Sleet and freezing rain fell in a slow drizzle throughout the day. Trees glistened with icicles and white and gray slush covered the roads, with cars sporadically abandoned after careening into ditches. No serious injuries were reported, though.
“People have been paying attention and driving slowly,” said Capt. Steven Strickland of the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.
Most residents heeded warnings to stay inside, mitigating the damage in a city more accustomed to sultry summers than crippling winter weather.
“This is really bad,” Pam Tucker, head of Columbia County’s Emergency Management Agency, said Tuesday night. “This is probably the worst ice storm we’ve ever had in this area.”
Many people cooped up in dark houses here measured their pain by The Weather Channel’s choice of field reporters. The Atlanta-based station sent Jim Cantore, known for braving hazardous conditions on camera, and it became the talk of the town.
“My daughter called,” said Alice Faxon, 71, of suburban Martinez, “and said, ‘You must be about to get hit with something really bad.’”
- Johnny Edwards
EATONTON - Residents got the word. When Putnam Sheriff Howard Sills drove on to the county's roadways late Wednesday morning, he saw few motorists. Earlier that day, he'd gone on the radio and TV, urging folks to stay off the icy roadways unless their missions were urgent.
Just driving around, creating a hazard, could mean a ticket, Sills said. “And I meant it, too.”
Sills headed north, toward Lake Oconee. His four-wheel-drive Chevy rounded a curve silver with ice. Sills slowed as he came upon fish-tail tire tracks, still fresh – proof, he said, that not everyone had taken him seriously. Some young people were goofing around on the ice.
“And I can tell you who they were,” said Sills, Putnam’s sheriff for 17 years. “That house there –” the sheriff pointed toward a house in the distance – “and that one down there.”
Still, he didn’t catch them in the act. Sills shrugged. The Chevy continued north.
- Mark Davis
HELEN- Earlier this winter, Julie Rodriguez drove her bicycle from Connecticut to Texas to see her daughter graduate from college. Last week, she began the trip home, on foot, along the Appalachian Trail.
But her trip, expected to take as much as six months, was stalled eight days in, as a heavy snow forced her off the trail along Unicoi Gap.
“It was just too slick,” said Rodriguez, 46. She hoped to leave Wednesday but will instead spend one more night in a Hiawassee motel due to the elements.
Light snow continued to fall in the north Georgia mountains Wednesday, giving the area its highest accumulations in years.
Helen was in full lockdown mode Wednesday morning, with only a convenience store and Huddle House open for business. About 9 a.m., a state Department of Transportation snow plow made its first sweep down Main Street, covered by about two inches of compacted snow.
Few motorists risked it. Helen Police Officer Lee Johannsen said the roads around town were virtually deserted early Wednesday. Home seemed a good place to be, with no reports of widespread power outages so far. The forecast calls for more snow than ice, so Helen’s luck may hold out.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, is determined to resume her hike on Thursday, when skies are expected to clear.
“I love the snow,” she said. “I’ll take winter camping over the summer any day.”
- Christian Boone
ATHENS — University of Georgia students prepared for brutal conditions by stocking up on groceries and readying for nightlife festivities.
UGA officials announced school was cancelled for Thursday in Athens, as roads are expected to see at least half-an-inch of ice by nightfall. Using the school’s email alert system, they urged students to only leave residences out of necessity and remember that most pathways would be slippery.
The dining halls and dormitories were expected to stay warm due to the university’s underground power system, which was unlikely to be affected by the frost. Bolton Dining Commons, a central location, has a backup generator as well.
Conner Watts, a senior from Johns Creek, watched students sled down Thomas Street on a ripped-out bathroom stall door. Anesia Reticker, a nutrition science major from Dekalb County, bought grocery staples – bread and eggs were available, though in short supply – and prepared for the inevitable foot traffic near her downtown apartment.
“Last night was really crowded downtown and it tends to get packed when it snows,” Reticker said. “When we got cancelled two weeks ago, the bars all opened early.”
- Nicholas Fouriezos
GRIFFIN - Kristen Smith was in the kitchen of her Maple Drive home making breakfast Wednesday morning when a tree tipped over in her front yard.
“It was around 8 o’clock I think, it was just getting light and I had been up for a while, watching the news,” Smith said. “We heard a whoosh! and the tree toppled over. We felt it more than we heard it.” The family had been worried about that tree falling on her son’s room.
“Every time a windstorm would come on, I’d make my him evacuate his room,” she said.
The tree missed the house but did pull down some power lines leading to the home.
She had praise for the Griffin Power workers trying to restore power.
“I can’t believe they’re gonna try and fix it in all this. They are so brave and dedicated to do that,” she said.
- Kent Johnson
BUFORD - All 79 rooms at the Holiday Inn Express on Satellite Boulevard just off I-985 have been occupied since early Wednesday, said front desk clerk Blanca Suarez.
She’ll be spending the night here, too, along with the motel’s housekeeping staff. “We’ve got a lot of people here who work off Satellite,” Suarez said. “Some had their flights cancelled.”
Meanwhile, Suarez said she was fielding calls from locals without power wanting a room. She’s been referring customers to the Wingate across from the Mall of Georgia, where rooms are going fast, front desk clerk Misty Mueller said.
- Christian Boone
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