Columbus Emergency Management director talks preparations for winter storm
Georgia is preparing for Winter Storm Fern after Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency for the state Thursday morning.
An ice storm warning was put into effect Friday morning for counties primarily in north Georgia, according to a post on the NWS Atlanta X page.
Locally, Columbus officials are preparing for what the winter storm might bring, including freezing temperatures in the 20s early next week forecasted by the National Weather Service.
“We’ve been watching it ever since they started talking about it and preparing for it,” Chance Corbett, Homeland Security and Emergency Management director for the Columbus Consolidated Government, told the Ledger-Enquirer.
They have been communicating with all city employees and local community partners via email and making sure they are aware of the storm, he said.
Corbett expressed concern about the freezing temperatures coming early next week due to the rain ahead of the freezing temperatures.
“If any of that rain and water does not leave the roadways (and) is not dried before those freezing temperatures get here, we could potentially have some issues on the road, such as black ice,” he said.
Corbett said his department has been talking with Columbus Public Works, which he said is “ready to go.”
Emergency Management will monitor the rainfall, according to Corbett.
As of the time of the interview with Corbett on Thursday afternoon, he said Emergency Management does not anticipate ice or snow issues in the Columbus area.
“Any of these events can shift and could change,” he said. “So we’re going to be actively monitoring that, making sure that if it does start shifting that we’re prepared.”
For people in Muscogee County, Corbett suggests monitoring the storm, having a plan if the winter storm hits the area, and having an emergency kit with snacks, water and medications.
Corbett also suggests staying off the roads if the area happens to get ice.