ATLANTA — As metro Atlanta and north Georgia brace for another round of winter weather, this time with snow, the Georgia Department of Transportation is getting ready.
Expect to see county and state trucks pretreating roads with a salt solution from the North Georgia mountains to metro Atlanta on Friday.
Channel 2’s Courtney Francisco was in Barrow County, where snow and ice are still on the ground from last weekend’s winter storm. People there are preparing once again.
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“We’re prepared. We’re going to stay in,” said Jennifer Hulsey.
Barrow County spokesperson Brian Stewart said the county’s road and bridge division loaded up trucks with salt on Thursday.
“Starting Friday, we will start treating entrances to fire stations, parks, Barrow County Animal Shelter,” said Stewart. “We’ll start treating some of those areas, and we’ll start treating our bridges as well that tend to get icy before the rest of our roadways.”
Stewart said plans are in place to ensure public safety staff are in the office when weather hits, and the county will likely activate its emergency operations center.
“Our 911 dispatchers, our firefighters, our EMTs, our sheriff’s deputies, all of them pour their efforts into this, and Barrow County can put their heads to sleep at night knowing they have the best and brightest keeping us safe at all times,” said Stewart.
Volunteers are also preparing to help families who already endured power outage losses earlier this week.
Midwest Food Bank of Georgia sent truckloads of food and hygiene supplies to Barrow, Clarke, Habersham, Hall, Lumpkin and White counties.
“When you think about the storm that’s coming through there, and everything the families have to worry about in terms of electricity, staying warm, gas supplies, etc., getting the food in there and having those family food boxes just takes one less thing off their plate for them to worry about,” said Executive Director Patrick Burke.
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