Thursday, January 22, 2026–11:00 a.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
Georgia Power photo
With a chance of freezing rain and ice this weekend, Georgia Power crews are preparing.
According to Melissa Free with Georgia Power, winter weather, specifically ice, presents a unique challenge when it comes to getting power restored.
“Take a tornado situation, the tornado comes through, and our teams are able to go out and restore,” she said. “In an ice situation, where you are looking at 5, 6, or 7 days of extreme cold, those lines can come down again, maybe a second or third time. It just changes the dynamics and planning for our team. I will say that grid hardening and some of the modernization efforts that we have done over the past several years have allowed us to have more control, to not have to go to localized events as much.”
Free offered some tips for staying safe.
Stay at home and off the roadways if possible.
“Ice can be detrimental to roads and infrastructure,” Free added. “A half an inch of ice is about 500 pounds on a line. So, you can imagine tree damage, limbs falling, and then ultimately, power lines.”
Meanwhile, the City of Rome’s Public Works Division will be keeping an eye on around 260 miles of local roads throughout the weekend.
“We have two trucks loaded right now with salt, calcium-chloride, and #89 stone rock,” said Rome Public Works Division Director Chris Jenkins. “Those will be on our snow plows and on the backs of our trucks, just in case we start getting bridges with Slick spots.”
Jenkins explained how the roads are prioritized.
“We try to make sure the bridges, the roads leading into the hospital areas, and nursing homes are taken care of in the very beginning—also our fire and police departments,” he said. “We certainly want to take care of everything.”
Jenkins said when they start getting calls and when public works crews on their routes start noticing icy patches, that’s when they will switch over and start using the de-icing method.
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