Georgia Department of Transportation, Georgia Power preparing for Tropical Depression Nicole

GEORGIA — Georgia Power is on standby as Nicole moves through the metro Atlanta.

It has crews spread throughout the state. The Georgia Department of Transportation is also on standby.

“We have crews, activated on standby ready to go,” GDOT spokeswoman Natalie Dale said of the storm. Georgia Power and GDOT have been practicing the motto, “If you stay ready, when you don’t have to get ready.”

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“Really, what we’re expecting to see is high winds as it moves up from the south and some significant rain. We’re not talking widespread flooding that we’ve seen in a lot of situations,” Dale said.

Dale said crews are stationed throughout the state of Georgia, ready to tackle any situation. One of those situations is possible flooding.

That’s why GDOT crews have been all over the state, cleaning out drains like this one. GDOT says as of now, the drains are clear and they want them to stay that way.

“It just takes that much to cover a drain, and create a really dangerous flooding situation, a localized flooding situation,” said Dale.

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GDOT crews removed a sign on Interstate 285, ahead of the storm. They were concerned about the sign falling during high winds.

“As we get those big winds coming through the Metro area and into North Georgia, you just want to be weather aware,” said Dale.

Dale said some of that awareness can start with “at-home preparation.”

“Make sure you got your apps on your phone, make sure it’s charged, in case you lose power, which sometimes we do, when there are these high winds,” she said.

Alicia Brown with Georgia Power said the utility company also has crews out throughout the state, just in case of power outages.

“They will try to restore, if there are any service interruptions, they will try to restore, safely and as quickly as possible,” said Alicia Brown, Georgia Power spokeswoman.

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Meanwhile, crews are hoping Nicole will be kind to Georgia.

“Hopefully the storm system is gentle with our state, again we know there’s going to be winds, we know there’s going to be rains, but we have our fingers crossed that we don’t see those tornadoes, that are likely in South Georgia,” Brown said.

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