The sleet has turned to freezing rain in Clarkesville but roads are still treacherous. Habersham County road crews are working overtime trying to stay ahead of the icy buildup. With 500 miles to tend to, that’s not an easy task.
County Road Superintendent John Stamey says his crews are out in force tonight. “We’ve got five snoplows running, three grader machines and they’re blading as fast as they can but it’s hard to do anything with.” Crews are spreading salt on the graded roads but as precipitation continues to fall and temperatures continue to drop, the icy road conditions are expected to stick with us through at least early morning.
While a few daring souls and homebound workers are out on the roads in Clarkesville, they’re not finding much open. Most of the fast food restaurants and gas stations are closed. Those that remain open may not be open for long. As conditions worsen, many employers are sending their workers home.
Stamey says if you must travel use extreme caution. “All the bridges and overpasses are bad to freeze up and be too slick. Most of the hills are slick as anything.” You can see the slush on the roads but watch out for black ice. You can’t see it and it will surprise you, especially in the early morning hours if you’re among the unlucky ones who have to head into work.
There are plenty of people in Habersham who won’t be working or going to school tomorrow. North Georgia Technical College is again closing all three of its campuses Tuesday and the Little School and Faith Christian Academy will also be closed. Tallulah Falls School will be on a two-hour delay.
Some students at NGTC, giddy from having the day off from school today and little else to do, spent the evening cutting doughnuts and spinning out trucks in the school parking lot.
The icy precipitation is expected to let up around 7 Tuesday morning and Wednesday is supposed to be nice but, with forecasters calling for another round of extreme temperatures on Thursday and possible snow Friday, chances are good local road conditions won’t improve much over the next few days. Stamey’s advice? “Stay in as much as you can. Let us get the roads cleaned up.”
