For Immediate Release:

Friday, February 10, 2017 Contact:

Nita Bingham – 404.357.8038

District Communications

229.326.5435

NOTE: photos attached with taglines and credits

Southwest Georgia…

Massive Georgia DOT Storm Clean Up Nearing Completion

TIFTON – Albany Area Assistant Maintenance Engineer Jerry Smith knew the black clouds he saw

rolling across state Route 133 on Jan. 22 were a bad sign.

His first thought was “here we go again.” Georgia Department of Transportation maintenance employees

were still collecting debris left behind by Jan. 2 severe storms and now a tornado had been reported in

Albany.

“I knew it was going to be horrible, but I didn’t realize how bad it was going to be until I got to Mock

Road. The store was demolished and all the traffic signals were gone,” Smith said. “That’s when I started

calling people in. This was definitely an all-hands-on-deck situation. We worked through the night

clearing roads. And when I say ‘clearing,’ I’m talking about making it passable. Our first goal is to get

traffic moving down the road safely. We can always come back and clean up.”

From the first week of January through Thursday, Georgia DOT employees have removed more than

1,724 dump truck loads of storm debris from state routes in Baker, Brooks, Cook, Crisp, Dougherty,

Mitchell, Thomas, Turner, Wilcox and Worth counties. Dougherty County represents the bulk of the total

and that is where GDOT has currently focused its attention. Large trees have been collected and crews are

now hauling off smaller debris. They expect to be finished by the end of next week.

Crews were faced with massive downed oak trees that were so large they had to be loaded by section onto

a lowboy trailer. Georgia DOT has excavators, but had to rent a larger one to remove some of the debris,

Smith said.

The tornado also caused an estimated $500,000 in damage to signs and obliterated traffic signals.

“One of our big I-beam signs on U.S. 19 was twisted all the way around like it was a toothpick,” District

Sign Manager Darrell Braswell said.

It was critical for driver safety to get one way, do not enter, stop and yield signs repaired as quickly as

possible. Likewise, it was critical to get traffic signals up and running. District signal maintenance

employees started working 15-16 hour days. In some locations all they found were signal pieces.

“U.S. 19 at Holly Drive (Albany) was a total rebuild. The devastation was amazing,” District Signal

Engineer Brent Lupo said. What wasn’t missing was on the ground.

All signals have been repaired or replaced, though two locations are running on generators due to issues

getting power restored.

District Engineer Chad Hartley praised the quick response of employees who were able to open the

majority of state routes quickly to allow emergency vehicles access to damaged areas after the violent

Albany tornado. The Jan. 2 and 22 storm recovery has required the work of 297 southwest district

employees. Local Georgia DOT crews and those from the central, east and southeast districts have also

helped clear local road rights-of-way in many of the counties included in the governor’s state of

emergency declarations.

The National Weather Service (NWS) recorded 41 tornadoes across the state Jan. 21 and 22, a new

record. Several tornadoes were reported Jan. 22 in southwest Georgia, but the largest touched down near

the Dougherty/Baker County line and traveled more than 70 miles across Dougherty, Worth, Turner and

Wilcox counties. The path, up to 1.2 miles wide, caused severe tree damage. In many spots, 90 to 100

percent of the trees in the path of tornado were uprooted or snapped, according to the NWS.

Construction work zones are hazardous for workers and for the public. In fact, most victims in work zones crashes

are drivers or passengers. Obey the rules in work zones – Pay Attention – Slow Down – Watch for Workers. And

always, expect the unexpected. It can make the difference between life and death. Visit www.dot.ga.gov. Follow us

on Facebook (www.facebook.com/GeorgiaDOT) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/gadeptoftrans).