Beware of Winter Wonderland: “All roads are icy at this point”
Community, News December 13, 2010
Right now it feels like 8° F in Gilmer County with winds coming in from the northwest at 16mph gusting to 26mph, according to weather.com, with a projected high of 24° F for the day.
While the conditions outside in this winter wonderland are appealing to the eye, it’s best to avoid getting on the roads and stay indoors and only get on the roads in emergency situations. Use as much caution as possible today when dealing with the icy conditions on many of the county and state roads.Sheriff Stacy Nicholson issued a warning this morning:
“Today is Monday, December 13th, at 7:20 AM. All roads in Gilmer County are icy at this point. Last night, road crews attempted to put salt on the roads. Due to the extreme cold temperatures, the roads froze and snow fell on top of the salt. All roads in Gilmer County, I repeat, are icy at this point. We recommend that you stay in unless you have to be on the roads in an emergency situation. Please use caution.”
To hear the latest road information from Sheriff Nicholson call 706.276.7623 (ROAD).
Gilmer County’s government website says this of their road department:
“Road Department personnel, nearly 30 strong, are directed by Superintendent Ronnie Chadwick, who has more than 16 years of dedicated service to the County. With nearly 500 miles of County maintained roads in one of North Georgia’s largest and mountainous counties, the tasks of the Road Department are numerous and widespread, including mowing, clearing and chipping, drainage repair and maintenance, motor grading, re-surfacing, road widening, and new road construction. The Gilmer County Road Department faithfully maintains and improves the County Road System on a regular basis, as well as serving on-call during inclement weather and emergency situations.”
However, with Gilmer County’s most recent 12% overall budget cuts hitting the road department the hardest of all departments and cutting them down to six percent of the total budget. It is hard not to think that the safety of Gilmer’s roads are negatively affected.
Roads crews were sent out at 7:00 PM Sunday night to salt Gilmer County roads in an attempt to make them drivable.
And, the Gilmer County road department is still out in full force. There was one attendant in the office taking calls, Dixie Pyler.
“We are doing the best we can,” said Pyler.
As of 10:30 AM, Pyler indicated that the following roads have not been treated by the road department: Yukon Road, Hickory Ridge Road, Forestry Road, Whitepath Road, and Eller Road. Additional roads, though not listed, may still be untreated. Again, use caution on any county or state road.
“I can’t say for sure on state roads, but on State Highway 282 there was a solid sheet of ice this morning,” added Pyler.
Meteorologist Karen Minton from Channel 2 WSBTV issued a Winter Weather Advisory until 10:00 am for north Georgia mountains; and a Wind Advisory until 7:00 pm for all of north Georgia including metro Atlanta.
Fannin and Gilmer County schools will be closed today and current weather forecasts appear to warrant closings for tomorrow as well, however, the temperature should move above freezing Wednesday.