Deal Emphasizes Continued Vigilance As State Bears Down For More Snow And Ice

February 12th, 2014

Despite an afternoon lull in the ice storm, Gov. Nathan Deal is urging residents to stay indoors.

“Georgians have heeded the warning and they are staying home and staying off the roadways and that is appreciated by all of us who are trying to keep everyone safe,” said Deal at an afternoon press briefing in his office. “People need to continue to heed the warnings and stay home.”

Temperatures in metro Atlanta are expected to remain below freezing until midday Thursday and roadways remain treacherous.

Nearly 200,000 Georgians have reported power outages. Many of those are coming from south metro Atlanta.

Deal stressed federal, state, and local officials, in coordination with Georgia Power and other utility companies, are working around the clock to help restore power.

“Be very cautious about downed power lines because you won’t know whether they’re live with power or not so just take the precaution and assume they are,” said Deal.

He emphasized continued vigilance as the next wave of snow and ice bears down on the state.

“The real danger is people will look out the window now and say well it doesn’t look too bad. Maybe we should get on the roads or go to work or do other things. We shouldn’t be deceived by that,” said Deal. “This storm has come in waves and there is another wave that is in the process of coming now.”

In terms of the difference between this storm and the one last month, Deal said more communication is going on between all levels of government. He said he personally has reached out to local officials along the I-20 corridor – from Atlanta to Augusta – where the next wave of snow and ice is expected to hit.

“I have already spoken to the county and city officials in most of those affected areas and they are preparing at the local level for that. They know what is coming.”

Deal also said the state has been able to respond more effectively due to the lulls between the weather system.

“It has given us a little lead time and preparation time and the waves have also allowed us – in between the waves – to go in and do some cleaning and treating of the roadways which has improved their condition,” said Deal.

Currently, 91 counties across the state, including all of metro Atlanta, are under a state of emergency until Friday evening. So far, the Obama Administration has declared 89 of those counties federal emergency areas.