Kemp declares statewide emergency as winter storm threatens Georgia

Gov. Brian Kemp declared a State of Emergency Thursday morning for all Georgia counties due to the winter storm that is expected this weekend.

“We think we’ll experience significant snow, sleet, and or freezing rain possible in these counties throughout the weekend, and that’ll start early Saturday morning,” Kemp said about North Georgia counties.

The state of emergency will last for seven days, and Kemp also said he has authorized the call-up of 500 National Guardsmen.

“Now, obviously, we do not have a need for those folks right now. Hopefully, we won’t, but we just wanna be prepared in case we do that we can move and get General Wilson and his team responding as quick as possible,” Kemp said.

Kemp said the State Operations Center will be activated starting at 7 a.m. Saturday and running until the weather has passed.

“As I just mentioned, literally a degree or two in temperature can affect whether we have rain or snow, slash ice or freezing rain,” Kemp said. “We’re asking everyone to be prepared in case we have significant ice accumulation. Obviously, that’s treacherous on the roads, but also creates a lot of problems with our utilities and especially our electric power lines and other things.”

As of Thursday morning, Kemp said they expect the impacted areas to be north of I-20, but the weather could shift. Kemp said those living in Middle Georgia should prepare for severe cold weather as well.

“It looks like this storm’s gonna come in a little later on Saturday than we originally thought, so folks need to start getting off the roads on Saturday night,” he said. “That would be a big favor to us and help keep everybody safe.”