Georgia’s governor declared a state of emergency for 45 counties, and Atlanta canceled classes for today and Wednesday as a winter storm neared, less than two weeks after a system stranded thousands of people in cars, buses and schools.
The region might get 1 to 3 inches of snow and ice over the next three days as the storm moves from Texas to the Atlantic Ocean, according to the National Weather Service. Sleet and snow was expected to begin falling late Monday or early this morning, the agency said.
Winter-storm alerts extend from Texas to North Carolina, covering parts of nine states, the weather service said. On Monday, Govs. Robert Bentley of Alabama and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana issued emergency declarations for their states.
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal extended the emergency declaration Monday from 14 counties in the northern part of the state to 45. Public schools will close in Atlanta and Marietta and in DeKalb, Cobb and Fulton counties, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said he was in contact with school leaders and that the city had 120 pieces of equipment to spread salt and sand, and to plow snow. Atlanta is also working with private contractors to make sure area roads are passable, and city officials say they have 3,000 tons of de-icing materials on hand.
Crews were expected to work 12-hour rotational shifts Monday evening through Thursday.
“We are just going to get out here and, flat out, let our work speak for itself,” Reed said.
Aaron Strickland, emergency operations director for Georgia Power, said the utility was bringing in crews from Florida,Texas, Oklahoma and Michigan.
“Ice is probably one of the worst events we face,” Strickland said. “When you look at the types of ice we are talking about, it’s catastrophic.”
Late last month, 2½ inches of snow in Atlanta stranded almost 25,000 students at their schools or in buses and shut down the region’s highways, trapping thousands of motorists. There were 1,254 accidents, 134 people injured and at least one death caused by the storm. One woman gave birth on a jammed interstate.
“We’re not looking back; we’re looking forward,” Deal said. “The next three days are going to be challenging. We want to make sure we are as prepared as possible.”
Still, some people said they were skeptical the state would be better prepared this time.
“I’m not counting on it. I’ve been in Georgia on and off for 20 years. It’s usually the same scenario, not enough preparations and not enough equipment,” said Terri Herod, who bought a large bag of sand and a shovel at a Home Depot. She said her sister told her to also buy kitty litter in case her car gets stuck on an ice patch.
Temperatures last month fell below freezing all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, ensuring the Deep South got a coating of snow and ice, said Steve Wistar, an AccuWeather meteorologist. This time around, those frigid readings won’t extend so far into the region, he said.
The worst of the snow and ice will probably be across Arkansas and Tennessee, Wistar said. Wichita, Kan., and Tulsa might get some snow as well, he said.
Alabama, which saw stranded vehicles and had 10,000 students spend the night in schools during the January storm, is likely to get a wintry mix of precipitation. Bentley said he was activating the state’s emergency operations center and placing a National Guard wrecker unit on standby in case it was needed to clear clogged roads.
Parts of Mississippi could see 3 inches of snow, and a blast of snow over a wide section of Kentucky slickened roads and closed several school districts.
After the storm passes across the South, there is a chance it will gather strength off the coast of North Carolina and then head north up the East Coast, the weather service said.
Two storms struck the Northeast last week, leaving snow and ice across the region and knocking out power to as many as 800,000 homes and businesses from Ohio to New York, with most of those in the Philadelphia area.
Information for this article was contributed by Natasha Doff and Brian K. Sullivan of Bloomberg News and by Christina A. Cassidy, Kate Brumback, Ray Henry, Jay Reeves, Kim Chandler and staff members of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 02/11/2014