A lone car, tipped over with the top peeled back, is one of a few visual reminders of the ordeal Pickens County endured last week. This car, on Henderson Mountain Road near South Basin, was one of the first wrecks that occurred in the scramble to get to safety last Tuesday when the snow storm that crippled Georgia started. Although the snow has finally melted after many were forced to stay home for days, scenes such as this car still send shudders down one’s spine, a bleak reminder.What did go wrong? Was it lack of preparation, a shifting evolving weather pattern, people caught off-guard? A combination seems to be the answer although here in Pickens County we don’t seem any worse for wear. As “mountain folk” tend to handle things, for the most part it was taken in stride. People pooled resources, did what had to be done and as a result, only four injuries were reported to the sheriff’s office of which one was a deputy who wounded his back in a fall while assisting a motorist.

Pickens County Government Information Officer Norman Pope was sanguine with his assessment of Pickens County’s response as a whole, not just the “official” agencies when he reported,

“Pickens has always been an area where people want to help each other.”

The Sheriff’s Public Information Officer Kris Stancil said,

“Sheriff Craig has made it clear. Our #1 priority is safety and we contribute however we can.”

That said, he related his knowledge that one of their deputies put his skills to work not only by serving in the expected capacity but by also volunteering his commercial driving experience. Lt. Wayne Cooley got behind the wheel of a county road department truck with a plow attached and started removing snow from county roads along with the road department employees.

There were many such stories shared through social media, local forums and word-of-mouth that make me opine how proud I am to live in Pickens County but let’s take a look at what happened from a journalistic point of view.

From the first weather service prediction Sunday night of only a trace through Tuesday night where some areas found themselves in the midst of nearly four inches of snow, the unpredictability is what became apparent.

Chronological list of highlights:

Tuesday morning Pickens Schools announced they would be closed and they remained closed through week.

The temperatures dipped well below freezing and stayed there, hindering efforts for snow/ice removal.

Emergency shelter was opened by the Pickens Sheriff’s Auxilary Unit Tuesday evening and stayed open through Wednesday. Several warming stations were opened at area fire departments.

Cove Road was closed from Tuesday through Thursday. All roads were labeled as treacherous for varying portions of the event.

By Wednesday, County EMA Director Bob Howard estimated 40 wrecks and 200 stranded from the beginning of the storm.
Thursday most roads were passable but emergency travel only was still strongly recommended.

Friday most roads had cleared other than some in higher elevations.

Saturday temperatures rose above freezing and have been there ever since, clearing out the last of the snow and ice.

The response has overwhelmingly been lauded as remarkable. From the sheriff’s department to the road department to neighbors helping neighbors, the trials of last week showed the resolve of the community. Yes there were some complaints to accompany the praises but most people seemed pleased overall.

Road Department Response:

Rumors swirled that the Georgia Department of Transportation had taken resources from this area and moved them to Atlanta metro, leaving the county unable to utilize the equipment it should have. That is categorically untrue.

Sam Wheeler who is District 6 supervisor said there are two salt spreaders in Pickens with a total of seven people who worked around the clock. The county has nearly 180 miles of GDOT road to clear, broken down by lane, not square miles. The effort began with clearing interstates, highways, state roads then secondary roads.

On top of that, even within our boundaries equipment is not re-allocated until ALL work for that specific county is completed. The only equipment within our district (which includes Pickens, Gilmer and Fannin) that moved was when Gilmer County had breakdowns so they called in re-enforcements from other areas.

Mohamed Arafa, GDOT spokesman for the Northwest Georgia region, said that before the storm moved in they were busy pre-treating overpasses and bridges with special emphasis on higher elevations. The Northwest Georgia region includes 17 counties and had 257 employees working the snow event. They spread 3855 tons of salt, 4629 tons of gravel, 15,000 gallons of brine and had 120 pieces of snow removal equipment including tandem and dump trucks with a combination of plows and/or spreaders.

Here locally, the Pickens County Road Department put all 22 employees out with two salt trucks and three plows to go on service trucks in addition to GDOT resources.

Main arteries where most travelers were remained first concern along with Highway 53 between 515 and the middle of Jasper. For emergency response and travel volume, it was vital to keep these areas in as good shape as possible. County Commissioner Becky Denney said,

“The leadership of Pickens County worked very well together to take care of our citizens by keeping access to the hospital open and by monitoring the ambulances and fire trucks.”

Why did it seem the efforts were unsuccessful? With the ground temperature already at 23 degrees and the weather pattern changing continuously it was impossible for agencies to accurately lay out a response plan before things changed. On top of that, the conditions themselves kept proven methods from working properly.

Salt can only melt ice down to 15 degrees which made it ineffective for large portions of the event, especially when the ground is already frozen so the pavement doesn’t hold heat as it normally would.

“We did the best we could to keep the roads clear and open,”

Arafa reported.

“There was so much to do.”

In areas where salt wasn’t effective staff used a salt/brine solution which does the same thing as salts but work to a temperature of -6 degrees and since liquid is needed to activate salt, the brine/salt combination is the best measure to combat winter roads at the moment. Even that and the pre-treatment didn’t measure up. These are the same methods and combinations used in states with high snowfall amounts.

County Commissioner Jerry Barnes said,

“The extreme cold conditions and the type snow we had made it very hard to make any headway getting roads cleared in the county. Many areas of the county are still in rough condition. Even though the county government (was) shut down, the road department (was) hard at work scraping off what snow they could and putting salt and gravel on as many county roads as possible.”

Emergency Personnel Response:

Early on, the quickly escalating situation resulted in the Emergency Operations Center being opened as well as warming stations and ultimately the Emergency Shelter staffed by the Sheriff’s Auxiliary Unit. It was housed in the county community center on Camp Road. After the initial rush the shelter was shut back down. Auxiliary President Ray Jackson said they were able to assist 10 people including a Gilmer County resident. The people who were helped by the shelter included those who had been stranded on the roads and were transported by emergency responders and people who’d abandoned their cars and found various methods of transportation to the shelter.

Shelter volunteer and auxiliary member Deb Galloway said there was a great deal of need following the winter storm that swept in Tuesday afternoon.

“The rec center facility is amazing. The county commissioners made a great place for our community to gather,”

she said.

Many Pickens County roads were littered with abandoned cars or cars and owners who wished to remain with their vehicles. Several roads were very dangerous throughout the incident including Henderson Mountain and Monument roads.

Cove Road was closed from Tuesday through Thursday in the “S” curves which were impassable. As the ice formed on the road and drivers all rushed home mid-day, they found themselves unable to make it up the curvy hills, many sliding backwards into oncoming traffic. Oncoming traffic found themselves partially up a hill they couldn’t get back down without sliding into others. Even a patrol unit slid into a traveler’s car causing minor damage to the unit. After assessing the situation it was decided the only way to stop the damage was to park vehicles where they were and evacuate those stranded.

Denney said,

“Cove Road is always a challenge in times like this. The city and county made a joint decision to close Cove Road for a period of time. This decision was made due to the safety of the public. Our sheriff’s department was very involved and did a great job of directing and re-routing traffic.”

During the first hours of the storm Henderson Mountain was lucky to not see the same type of incident occur. In the one-vehicle rollover described in the first paragraph, emergency responders found themselves unable to get back down after rescuing the occupants. It took a few hours for road crews to be able to get the road cleared enough so they could safely remove their emergency vehicles for use in other areas.

Piedmont Mountainside Hospital also became an informal shelter. As people were discharged they found themselves without transportation so many sought refuge there at the facility which accommodated them.

Stancil reports they had reserves out in 4-wheel drives and made each patrol unit 2-man units so additional back-up wouldn’t be necessary on calls. Initially all units were involved in rescues and handling other calls as dispatched by priority. They spent time retrieving people from roadways and cars stranded. As the snow tapered off, their work did not.

Unfortunately, the sheriff’s department did see a spike in domestic violence calls last week which made the decision to double up on deputies a solid decision. The reserves were able to get people home safely from the shelter and hospital Wednesday and Thursday.

Stancil was aware of three injuries from wrecks, all non-life threatening including one with broken ribs on Highway 53 West. Hundreds of people were rescued from stranded vehicles, various shelters and walking from stranded vehicles.

The ability of emergency personnel to insure safety when you compare it to our metro neighbor to the south is striking. Consider that a former Finlander who works in Pickens County but lives in Atlanta reported being marooned on their roadways 27 hours.

School response:

The first inkling that people should be weather-aware was the announcement early Tuesday morning that schools would be closed. Reports of other districts with children spending the night in schools or on buses was shocking to Georgians. Each day conditions were monitored and a decision was passed down. There were grumbles on Friday that people were able to safely make it down roads so why were schools closed? Some children’s homes are in higher elevations and those roads were still dangerous even three days later.

“First and foremost a big compliment is owed to the school system in their foresight in closing schools,”

grinned Pope. Many county officials resoundingly agreed with his statement.

Final Verdict?:

Stancil nor Pope were able to give any final numbers on accidents, incidents or cost to Pickens Countians. With a blanket event, figures and statistics aren’t likely to begin compiling until later this week. Receipts, time sheets, reports, fuel costs, etc. are all anticipated in the coming weeks.

No one wanted to rely on experience to make predictions. Pope was willing to say that even though Governor Nathan Deal did issue a state of emergency from Tuesday through Sunday, he doubted the county could recoup any emergency funds as Atlanta suffered so harshly. He said nevertheless, the county will be keeping their eyes open in case they’re wrong and funds are dispersed.

What did we learn?

In short, Mother Nature is a beast that cannot be contained, accurately anticipated nor controlled.

The City of Jasper declined to provide any information on their response to the snowstorm.

Please see below for a slideshow of some of the pictures taken last week: