CAMDEN COUNTY, Ga. — Once the impending winter storm arrives, Georgia officials say it could get dangerous with the threats of ice on the roads.
This is not weather many in Florida and Georgia are used to, but some travelers at the I-95 rest stop near the Florida/Georgia line said they’re heeding the warnings.
“We hit it a little earlier, so we beat the black ice,” traveler Craig Kessler said.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
With an Arctic blast on its way, travelers are hightailing it home.
“We got up really early this morning hoping to avoid some of that cause we’re heading towards it to go home to play in the snow,” traveler Cheryl Thomas said.
Camden County officials are warning people to stay off the roads because of the dangerous conditions headed toward southeast Georgia and northeast Florida.
Craig’s wife, Lynda, said she has experience with ice: “Slip, slide, stay off it, stuck, it’s very dangerous.”
“If you don’t have to be out and about tomorrow, please don’t get on the roads,” Camden County Emergency Management Director Chuck White said. “We’re expecting there could be cascading events with black ice, obviously you could have an increased number of accidents.”
White said the Georgia Department of Transportation has already brined the ramps of I-95.
Crashes happen on I-95 under normal driving conditions, and while FDOT and GDOT are working to mitigate the issues, it’s not a 100-percent guaranteed safety net.
So, White said it is paramount to stay off the roads and avoid driving on ice.
“That would really compound the problem for us for our first responders,” White said. “We’re putting them in harm’s way for things that could have been prevented had somebody been off the road.”
He said the public works crews are prepared to place sand on bridges if the conditions worsen.
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
“Mother nature has the trump card in all of this,” White said. “She can veto our best efforts and if you had a super amount of water that freezes that accumulates the builds-on layer, well even with salting, brining, or sand, you’re going to have an issue.”
Power companies in Georgia are prepared for any power outages that could come as well.
Camden County has a warming center set up at a recreation center located at 1050 Wildcat Drive, Kingsland, GA. It will be open overnight from 8 p.m. Tuesday to 9 a.m. Wednesday to help the vulnerable populations stay warm.
White said they are prepared with up to 150 cots.
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
“This is about life safety, this is about preventing hypothermia, this is to ensure that they don’t have a problem that’s going to compromise health or their life, so really it’s about putting them in a warming environment, making sure they’re hydrated, providing bathroom facilities and a place to lay down,” White said.
Schools in Camden County and government offices will be closed on Wednesday.
Waste collection will be pushed back from Wednesday to Thursday.
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
Sign Up
