ATLANTA — Magnificent -- that's how Georgia Emergency Management Director Charley English described the state of Georgia's response to this week's ice storm.
Last month, English and Governor Nathan Deal both publicly apologized for slow response an earlier winter storm.
Maybe the biggest lesson state leaders learned last month: You get a late start, you can't catch up. This time, Deal declared a state of emergency early, GEMA opened its state operations center early and moved critical state resources in place early.
“I think if you do things right it does restore confidence and I think we did things right this time,” Deal said.
It was redemption for Deal following the ice storm that beat up metro Atlanta and nearly all of north Georgia this week.
"I hope they see that we have provided the kind of leadership that's necessary in this emergency and it's the kind of leadership that I hope to continue to provide,” Deal said.
Deal and English faced sharp criticism for failing to prepare and sound the alarm soon enough before January's winter storm.
"Well, I always wake up feeling the next day's a new start. I don't look behind me. You always just try to do better," English said.
This time, days of early planning and preparation paid off.
"Got a longer lead time and we were able to get the appropriate agencies in at the right time. We were there way ahead of the storm,” English said.
GEMA’s state operation's center methodically coordinated prepositioning and deployment of critical state resources to the areas hardest hit.
"And what a lot of people don't see is the folks that stay there 24/7 because they know people are hurting a whole lot more than our little inconveniences are and we're dedicated to helping people,” English said.
Friday morning, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson visited the ops center to extend his compliments.
"I think it was important not just for me to be here, but for our people who were working in that command center, and for them to spread that compliment to the workers in the field. I think it means a lot," Deal said.
While it has scaled things down slightly, GEMA will keep its state operations center open round the clock coordinating state resources to assist local agencies' cleanup efforts in the hardest-hit areas, especially toward Augusta.
WSBTV
