Snow falling in Middle Georgia, thousands without power, travel discouraged
By The Macon Telegraph | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The
After
As of
About 10,000 customers were without electricity in
In the
The
Another 1,000 customers were without electricity in the
The total 26,000 outages in
Since Tuesday, 470,000 of the utility company's customers lost electricity, but service has been restored to 270,000, Boatright said.
Crews will not be able to fully estimate when power will be restored until Thursday afternoon, she said.
Additional crews are working to restore outages.
Flint Energies reported about 52 members without electricity as of
At about
One accident has blocked all lanes of
Macon-Bibb EMA Deputy Director
Numerous trees and power lines are down, but crews are working to restore service, Roberson said.
In
Power is out for much of
He urges everyone to stay off the roads.
"It's a horrible inconvenience, and we understand that," Perry said. "But stay off the roads. The power's going to be out for a while."
Conditions appear to be better farther south.
A thick layer of ice is reported in the
Thursday's high is expected to reach into the upper 40s, but forecasters are waiting to see how much sunshine breaks through before determining how quickly the ice will melt.
The Ice Storm Warning remains in effect until
Areas of sleet and freezing rain are expected to continue early this morning and change to snow after
Return to macon.com for further updates on the weather and road conditions. Here is an earlier version of the story:
A day of cold rain dropped a wintry mix across
An overnight forecast for much of the midstate called for sleet after midnight, then a chance of snow afterward. Accumulations of ice, snow and sleet were possible with temperatures perhaps reaching into the upper 20s, according to the
With highs in the mid-40s on Thursday, though, much of the winter storm will soon be history.
Forecasts for much of the midstate had called for heavier ice accumulations Wednesday, but temperatures above freezing for much of the region kept more serious trouble at bay, at least by early Wednesday evening.
Downed limbs and trees were reported across the area, including neighborhoods off
Thousands of people lost electric service in the midstate during the day, but much of it had been restored by Wednesday night. Across the state, more than 133,000
"
There was no ice accumulation reported at
Road conditions before sunrise Thursday, he said, "are going to be a little treacherous" in places, a forecast that prompted many schools, government offices and businesses to either remain closed Thursday or to open later than usual.
While
Mayor
That uncertainty led local officials, including those of
"We have decided to close school (Thursday) for students," said
A decision on Friday classes will be made Thursday, he said. School officials were concerned about road conditions and decided on closing after consulting with forecasters and local emergency-service officials.
"The worst for us is yet to come," Mayor
If city-county workers think it's risky for them to go to work Thursday, they should call their supervisors, Public Affairs Director
"We're asking the employees to be cautious," he said.
The
Earlier Wednesday, Houston County EMA Director
"We are playing a game of craps right now," he said. "We just roll the dice, and it could go either way."
Roads in the
The roads, and others in the county, were closed periodically until sand could be strewn to make them safer for travel, Perry said.
"For the most part, people are staying off the roads," he said.
An ice storm warning will remain in effect through Thursday morning.
Power problems
The number of people without power in
While the tally stood at about 3,700 customers without power just before
For the most part, the outages were indiscriminate and spotty. They were spread wide geographically, attacking city and rural dwellers alike.
As of about
At some point in the day, a main feeder line for Southern Rivers Energy failed in the southwest part of
As of
Another 1,467
Tri-County EMC was reporting outages affecting about 4,300 customers in its coverage area. In
"The storm moved through and ice formed on tree limbs that fell onto lines, knocking them down," Green said.
He urged customers to monitor conditions on their mobile devices by visiting www.georgiapower.com/storms.
"Just remain patient with us," Green said. "We're going all we can to respond to all the outages."
Christy Chewing, a Central Georgia EMC spokeswoman, said trees were toppling with the ground wet and tree tops being heavy with ice.
"As it's getting colder, we're going to see more outages," she said.
Staff writers
___
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