Three northeast Georgia mountain counties appear to have been the hardest hit by the ice storm that struck over the weekend.
At one point last night, Habersham officials were reporting that 57 roads were blocked by downed trees. Meanwhile, nearly 70% of people in White and Rabun found themselves without power at times during the weekend, the highest percentage in the state
As of 6:30 this morning, nearly 14,000 people were without power in White County and 13,000 in Rabun. No outages were reported in Hall and the other counties served by Jackson.
The storm has not resulted in any deaths or injuries in northeast Georgia but two workers for Blue Ridge EMC had a close call when their truck was struck by a falling tree in Rabun.
Meanwhile, with precipitation having ended the new work week is starting with still-dangerous roads in many areas (black ice) and cold, windy conditions. For instance, at 6:00 the temperature at the Gainesville airport was 26 with a wind chill of 15. Winds were gusting to 30 mph.
Temperatures are expected to fall this morning and continue to fall through tomorrow, according to Hall County Emergency Management. No significant melting is expected during this timeframe, leaving areas of black ice and other icy spots.
The weather service says we can little warming the rest of the week, with daytime highs mainly in the 30s and nighttime lows in the teens and 20s.