Road Closures and More Hurricane Irma News
About two dozen roads were closed this morning after Hurricane Irma downed trees and scattered debris all over Athens, including the intersection of Milledge and Hancock avenues.
Other major street closures as of 7:30 a.m. included Jimmie Daniel Road near Atlanta Highway, Lavendar Road at Maple Drive, Westlake Drive at Milledge Circle and Valleywood Drive at Ashton Drive.
Parts of Carlton Terrace, Cedar Creek Drive, East Carver Driver, East Cloverhurst Avenue, Greenwood Drive, Habersham Drive, Highland Park Drive, Hodgson Drive, Holman Avenue, Mal Bay Road, Milledge Heights, Milledge Terrace, Morton Road, Oak Grove, Old Jefferson Road, Peachtree Lane, Tall Tree Road and Tipperary Road.
A full list is available here.
Traffic signals are out on 441 at the Loop and Timothy Road; Macon Highway at Timothy Road; all along Milledge Avenue, Baxter Street and Lumpkin Street; Oglethorpe Avenue at the Loop and Mitchell Bridge Road; Tallassee Road at Westchester Drive; Hawthorne Avenue at Old West Broad; Broad Street at Rocksprings, Hancock, King and Newton streets; Atlanta Highway at Jimmie Daniel Road; Prince Avenue at Barber Street; Athens Road at Cherokee Road; and Cherokee Road at Buddy Christian Drive, according to ACC Transportation and Public Works.
Athens Transit is operating on a holiday schedule today. Service is hourly. Routes 21, 22, 23, 28 and 30 are not running.
Bear Hollow Zoo is closed while workers repair damaged fences at animal enclosures. All other parks are open, although Rocksprings Park, Holland Youth Sports Park and Memorial Park are without power, and all Leisure Services programming has been canceled today. Trails may be blocked by debris, but a full trail assessment will take a week.
Residential trash pickup is suspended today. Customers whose pickup was scheduled for Monday or today will have their trash collected next Monday or Tuesday, with no charge for overflow. The Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials (CHARM) is closed until Monday. Leaf-and-limb pickup is suspended for the week as workers focus on storm cleanup.
More information on the status of government services is available at athensclarkecounty.com/irma or ACC's social media accounts (facebook.com/accgov and @accgov on Twitter).
ACC has set up a non-emergency hotline at (706) 613-3330, option 4, staffed by volunteers from the UGA Medical Reserve Corps. For emergencies, call 911, and for power outages, call your utility company.
The University of Georgia is closed today. Residence and dining halls will remain open. Campus Transit will run as long as conditions allow. Designated employees are expected to report to work if they can safely travel.
For more information on UGA's closing, visit emergency.uga.edu.
Clarke and Oconee County public schools are also closed today, as are Athens Tech, the University of North Georgia, Athens Christian School, Prince Avenue Christian School, Athens Academy and Monsignor Donovan.
Athens Regional Library branches are closed today.
As of 10 a.m., Georgia Power reported that about 13,000 customers are without power in Athens. Tree-heavy Cobbham, Boulevard, Five Points and the Eastside were hardest hit. It could be several days until everyone's power is restored, according to the utility.
Gov. Nathan Deal has declared a state of emergency in all 159 Georgia counties. State government offices are closed today.
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