Habersham County snow plows stand by ready to work
Habersham County public safety officials and utility crews are in position, ready to respond to the winter storm that’s expected to hit northeast Georgia. County commission chair Andrea Harper says she’s spoken with both Habersham Emergency Management and Georgia Power and has been assured the people and equipment are in place to help Habersham ride out this winter storm.
“Georgia Power is bringing in trucks and will use the county fairgrounds as a staging area,” Harper says. She says a decision still has not been made about closing the county courthouse. That’s left to the chief judge, Sheriff and county manager to decide. The county commission canceled it’s regularly scheduled meeting for tonight. That meeting will be held next Monday, Feb. 23 at 6pm.
Final preparations for possible severe winter weather also are underway in Baldwin. Mayor Jerry Neace says those preps started last week. “We knew it was coming and our guys got everything ready Friday,” Neace says. Baldwin, like all of northeast Georgia, anticipated the storm sooner. Early forecasts had it arriving early this morning. Baldwin closed city hall at 11:30 this morning to get workers home before the roads started icing. Neace says Baldwin City Hall will remain closed until the weather clears.
Anticipation for snow is quickly melting away in Habersham in the face of mounting forecasts calling for thick ice. Between 1-3 inches of snow could fall in the storm warning region while up to one-third of an inch of ice could form on roads, trees and power lines.
The National Weather Service has issued a special weather statement with advice on how to weather the storm. See Keeping safe in the storm.
Whatever the winter storm does, or doesn’t, bring, Harper says Habersham County will be ready. “We’ll be well taken care of,” she assures. She and Mayor Neace, along with other officials urge you to use extreme caution. “Stay at home if you can and watch out for our road crews,” Harper says. She wants everyone to remain mindful that without those road crews Habersham Countians would be in a fix. “They’re our unsung heroes. Not to take anything away from firefighters and deputies but, if our road crews didn’t leave their homes and families to clear the roads in bad weather, those emergency officials couldn’t get through.”
Keep your cellphone and computer batteries charged so that if the power goes out you can still access online weather and news updates from nowhabersham.com and the National Weather Service.
