Georgia : People stocked up on ice-melting chemicals, school systems closed and road crews fought against heavy traffic to treat highways to stave off black ice accumulations.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Georgia : People stocked up on ice-melting chemicals, school systems closed and road crews fought against heavy traffic to treat highways to stave off black ice accumulations.

Mix of ice, snow pelts Georgia, snarls traffic

By JEFF MARTIN and RAY HENRY, Associated Press

Updated 4:25 pm, Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Traffic inches along the connector of Interstate's 75 and 85 as snow blankets Metro Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 28, 2014 as seen from the Pryor Street overpass. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal is preparing to declare a state of emergency as a winter storm coats the region with snow and ice. State transportation officials said a mass of commuters leaving downtown Atlanta at once created traffic jams on interstates and surface streets. Photo: BEN GRAY, AP

ATLANTA (AP) — A winter storm dumped snow on parts of north Georgia and coated the metro Atlanta region. Much of Georgia was under a winter storm watch for Tuesday and Wednesday, with some areas forecast to see as much as 3 inches of snow.
People stocked up on ice-melting chemicals, school systems closed and road crews fought against heavy traffic to treat highways to stave off black ice accumulations.
Gov. Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency. Deal spokesman Brian Robinson said the emergency declaration would free up resources the state can use to address emergency situations as they arise. State government offices were expected to be closed until noon Wednesday, Robinson said.
"I know many people are trying desperately to pick up their children or simply to get home, and I hope they can get to safe, warm stopping point soon," Deal said in a statement. "Once at your destination, if at all possible, please stay off the roads until conditions improve."
The threat of snow and ice prompted the closure of schools districts and government offices throughout the state, and stranded travelers at airports nationwide.
The airport hardest-hit by cancellations Tuesday was also the world's busiest: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where more than 806 flights were canceled by 9 a.m. Tuesday, according to the flight tracking service FlightAware.
Nationwide, more than 3,200 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were canceled Tuesday, according to statistics from FlightAware. Only a couple of hundred flights are canceled in the U.S. on a typical day.
In Atlanta, Pam Sullivan, 46, bundled up in a thick pink scarf as she walked to work downtown. She took the impending winter storm in stride.

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ATLANTA (AP) -- Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal will declare a state of emergency as a winter storm coats the region with snow and ice.

Deal's spokesman, Brian Robinson, said Tuesday that the declaration covers all 159 counties in the state and will help free up resources that are needed to address emergency situations as they arise.

A winter storm coated the metro Atlanta region with snow Tuesday afternoon.

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Snowy chaos in the South; 800 kids stuck at schools

Posted on: 8:09 pm, January 28, 2014, by CNN Wire, updated on: 08:26pm, January 28, 2014

(CNN) — Cars stuck in ditches. Children stranded at schools that parents can’t reach. Icy roads and snow that shows no sign of stopping.

As a winter storm slammed into a broad swath of the South on Tuesday, authorities warned drivers to stay off the streets.
“This is a very dangerous situation,” Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said in the afternoon. “People need to stay at home. They need to stay there until conditions improve.”
Motorists in major metropolitan areas including Atlanta sat trapped in gridlock as schools and offices shut down, unleashing hordes of vehicles onto slushy roadways.
While Northerners may laugh at their Southern friends’ panic over a dusting of snow, the threat is real: With relatively few resources to battle snow and ice, public works crews may have a difficult time keeping up with any significant accumulation.
Add to that the fact that millions of Southern drivers aren’t used to driving on snow or ice, and things were getting tricky fast.
Students stuck at schools
In Alabama, where freezing rain made driving perilous, Bentley declared a state of emergency and said he had activated 350 National Guard troops to help respond to the storm. Emergency officials warned drivers to stay off the roads and urged people stuck in their cars to stay inside.
“The weather right now, the temperatures and the wind chill, if you step out of your car, are very dangerous,” said Art Faulkner, the state’s director of emergency management.
In Birmingham, Melanie Wilson tried to drive after she got a message that her children’s school was closing Tuesday morning.

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