The City of Athens and state of Alabama have been getting ready for potential issues caused by the winter weather event forecast for our area.

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service said Saturday that a “significant” winter storm was forecast to impact everyone from the southern Plains states to Mississippi, Tennessee and northern Alabama, then to the Northeast.

According to the forecast, a “large area of snow, sleet and freezing rain is expected. There will be significant travel disruption and a concern for power outages” across that area through Tuesday.

NWS said this winter storm is expected to be a multi-day event, beginning late Sunday and going through Tuesday and into Wednesday morning.

Icing of greater than one quarter of an inch was listed as possible for an area stretching from Louisiana to Kentucky that included Limestone County.

Weather preparedness

According to Holly Hollman with the City of Athens, the street and electric departments were on standby in case issues arose surrounding the winter weather event.

Beginning at 2:30 a.m. Saturday, crews were sanding bridges around the city and around Athens-Limestone Hospital to help mitigate issues caused by icing.

“The interstate bridges were especially slick, as were areas on Nuclear Plant Road and Alabama 251,” Street Department Director Dolph Bradford said. “We will go out again (Sunday) afternoon, and we have crews on standby.”

Blair Davis, manager of the city’s electrical department, said Athens Utilities also had crews on standby in case there were downed power lines or outages.

“NWS said the combination of bitter cold temperatures Monday night into Tuesday will make conditions particularly hazardous for those that do lose power,” Hollman said. “Residents should be prepared and have an emergency supply kit ready in event of a long duration power outage.”

Travel impact

Bridges and other elevated surfaces ice quicker than roadways, but all roads were being watched as the storm moved in over the weekend.

Limestone County District 4 Commissioner LaDon Townsend reported roads in his district were already icing over Sunday evening, and by 5:15 a.m. Monday, all roads and bridges in the county had been deemed impassable by the Limestone County Emergency Management Agency.

Unfortunately, not everyone heeded the warning. There were reports of multiple cars in ditches as drivers attempted travel despite ice visibly covering the roadways. In Morgan County, emergency crews responded to a multivehicle wreck on U.S. 231 North that included more than 20 cars.

The Alabama Department of Transportation and Alabama Emergency Management Agency had advised motorists prior to the storm’s arrival to avoid traveling during this winter event. ALDOT’s release Sunday emphasized the likelihood of black ice, a transparent layer of ice that forms of roadways and is difficult for motorists to detect, during the storm.

“Travel on all routes in the affected areas will be potentially hazardous, and some routes may

become impassable,” ALDOT said Sunday. “Motorists are strongly advised not to travel except in case of emergency.”

State of emergency

Gov. Kay Ivey joined local and state officials in calling for an abundance of caution before and during the winter storm. She declared 28 counties in Alabama to be under a state of emergency Sunday in which she activated the state EMA’s operations center, emergency operations plan and multiple agency divisions.

She called for Alabamians to remain mindful of the pandemic but suspended any part of her previous orders “to the extent that its application of enforcement would endanger any person affected by this storm event” or affect people or groups from preserving human life, preventing or mitigating human suffering or protecting or repairing critical infrastructure.

Ivey further directed the Alabama National Guard to be on standby as of Sunday, reminded citizens that price gouging is illegal and permitted any propane gas dealer operating in Alabama to fill any container if necessary to make sure people could stay warm during the storm.

Visit enewscourier.com to read the proclamation in full.