Northeast Georgia weathers winter storm

GAINESVILLE - Traveling by motor vehicle was an adventure Monday morning after an early January winter blast dumped from six to seven in inches of snow on Gainesville/Hall County and an inch or two more than that north of town in the mountains north of town. Driving was, to say the least, treacherous and not many motorists braved the roads; those who did did so carefully, with few exceptions.

Rusty Lovell drove to Gainesville from his home in North Hall.

"It was hazardous, very hazardous," Lovell said. "I'm in a big heavy four wheel drive truck with a load of wood in the back of it and I had to put it into four wheel drive in a few places myself."

Secondary roads, driveways and parking lots were smothered with snow. Snow plow crews from the state D.O.T., Hall County and the City of Gainesville were busy all night long; the snow fall steadily came down beginning between 10 and 11:00 p.m.

At the Waffle House on Shallowford Road in Gainesville, customers huddled over hot coffee and breakfast, grateful to be out of the cold and the chilly precipitation. Jimmy Smith from Gainesville pulled in late Sunday night and did not want to get back on the road.

"I didn't want to try to make it home on these roads," Smith said. "There's some pretty steep hills and I was afraid I might get stuck out there."

Smith said he has not seen a winter storm like this since 1993 when eight inches of snow and ice put the Queen City in the deep freeze. Jeff Dinsmore also decided to stay inside overnight, advising motorists to stay indoors.

"It's not a good idea to be out on the roads unless you really have to be out," Dinsmore said.

Waffle House manager Cindy Sanchez was one of those who had to brave the winter roads to get into work.

"The roads are pretty dangerous," she said. "We drove in from Maysville and it was really bad in that direction, the DOT seems to be clearing the streets."

Out at the district DOT office on Gillsville Highway dump trucks with snow plows pulled in and out of the fuel terminal, gassing up for a busy day of battling the ice and snow to keep the roads clear. Many roads were impassable, and the DOT concentrated on keeping major routes open.

As the storm continued into mid-morning, predictions of freezing precipitation and a frozen road and ground surface began to come true and frozen rain and sleet began to fall. The storm blanketed the state from Columbus to Macon with sleet and ice overnight according to the National Weather Service and motorists could expect hazardous conditions right through Tuesday.

Schools throughout north Georgia, local governments and even the state Supreme Court, which postponed oral arguments scheduled for some cases it's deciding, shut down for the day.

Georgia Power crews were busy trying to restore electricity to several thousand customers, mostly in west Georgia, whose power was knocked out during the storm. Thousands of workers were ready to deal with more outages, which were expected because of the icy conditions. As snow continues to fall, Jackson EMC has assembled its employee and contractor workforces to respond to any power outages that result from today's winter storm.

In addition to its regular workforce of 45 line crews, Jackson EMC has called in 14 contractor construction crews and 25 right of way crews. At this time, the cooperative has only 14 customers out of power, all in the Braselton area. Crews will be dealing with 6-10 inches of mainly snow with some sleet, and will be needed if predicted freezing rain produces power outages.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2011/1/235182