Guess I should go retrieve my recycling bin. Sniff…
From the Decatur Minute…
Due to issues our contractor is having with getting equipment to the City of Decatur, recycling collection services for the Tuesday collection route has been cancelled for this week.
Recycling for the Tuesday route will be collected next Tuesday, January 23. We appreciate your patience and apologize for the inconvenience.
UPDATE 2: Here’s the list of DeKalb County Road closures, courtesy of Decaturish
UPDATE 1: MARTA is running a modified schedule today
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It’s cold and icy out there this morning. How are the streets? And what’s open? What’s delayed?
City Hall is scheduled to open at noon today. As you’re likely aware, Decatur Schools are closed.
Ann sent in the photo above, taken WEDNESDAY morning
There’s snow all over Decatur’s streets this morning! And we don’t have any real plows in the South! And it’s below freezing!
So you know what that means! Here’s your “What’s Open?” thread to get the word out about what businesses are open – and which are closed – around the city!
Stay warm DEC.
Photo courtesy of Nancy
Photo courtesy of Kristin
Photo courtesy of DM
Photo courtesy of DM
Here’s the latest update from the City of Decatur…
Today, the City of Decatur started out with 73 out of 110 issues resolved, leaving 37 on the list. By 3:30 p.m., the list was down to 10. With the exception of the Early Childhood Learning Center, which should have power this afternoon, all of the CSD schools have power. Transportation of Westchester Elementary students to Decatur High went great and the students enjoyed the adventure.
All of the large power outages have been resolved. There are spot and smaller scale areas that are still without power. The Oakland/Fairview and Oldfield/McKinnon neighbors are the main smaller areas that are still without power. The city is working with Georgia Power to get those addressed as soon as possible. Lucerne/Geneva has a tree and pole down, but the wires never lost power. In order to repair the pole and remove the tree, the power will have to be shut off for some period of time. Regretfully this will have to be done in order to get the repair completed.
Grounds crews are working to get to the larger piles of debris left during the power restoration process and will continue to get to those through the end of the week. We are targeting the Safe Routes to School and School Crossings.
Tomorrow (Friday) we will provide specific information on collecting yard debris and sanitation collection. We expect that debris collection will take several weeks, if not much longer.
Here’s the latest on the power outages still plaguing Decatur, from the city…
The City of Decatur experienced over 100 tree issues during the period when Tropical Storm Irma came through on Monday. Beginning yesterday (Tuesday) morning our priorities were to clear major transportation routes of downed trees and to work with Georgia Power to assist them in getting power on for as many residents and businesses as possible.
Today (Wednesday) our priorities are to work with Georgia Power to get power restored in areas where school facilities are located, including Westchester and Clairemont Elementary Schools and College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center.
It is possible that the area in the western part of the City along West Ponce de Leon and East and West Parkwood area will not be addressed any sooner than tomorrow.
We will continue to clear major transportation corridors and then begin moving later today to secondary streets. It is likely that our work on streets will continue through the rest of this week.
We know that power outages are disruptive and cause major problems. Many of our own staff do not have power at their homes in the City so we have first-hand experience with the challenges and frustrations felt by residents and businesses. While patience is running thin, please know that we are working to get things back to normal as soon as possible.
Photo courtesy of City of Decatur – Government Facebook page
A cursory glance around downtown Decatur and you might think things are almost back to normal after the Irma wind machine passed through town back on Monday. Not a lot of structural damage. Businesses have power. Just get some of those traffic lights working and we’ll be back in business! Right?
However, look a bit closer at the people and you’ll notice that something is very off.
Restaurant kitchen staff are exhausted from heavy crowds and restaurants are low – or plum out! – of food. (“Another beer, sir?” “Well, I need the calories, so yeah. Thanks.”) Parents stare blankly into the distance, exhausted from their chaotic effort to empty the necessities out of the fridge when the power went out and racking their brains to figure out how to get their phone another fix of electricity. And the children. The kids seem lost, confused and looking desperately for anything to quell their boredom. What’s going on?
Decatur’s neighborhoods took the hit.
I took a quick run around the northside of the city this morning and was struck by how the extensive the storm damage from Hurricane Irma was in seemingly each neighborhood.
Honestly, I probably should have been a bit more prepared. When I pulled up the city’s helpful map of road closures (as of 4p yesterday) I noticed that I would need to detour from each of my standard running routes to avoid a big red “road closed” dot.
And these aren’t small trees that are blocking these routes. We’re talking big old trees that gave up the ghost in the passing storm. Like the guy above, laying across Geneva Street in the Great Lakes. Or this fella, resting off in the distance across Oakland Street. The city continues to work to reopen each of these streets, but there are just a lot of trees down.
Meanwhile, maybe the most MAJOR of intersections in Decatur remains closed as crews continue to work on repairs at Scott Boulevard and Clairemont Ave. As such, traffic is attempting to divert around it, resulting in full-on traffic jams on neighborhood streets, like this one on Superior Avenue in the Great Lakes. (FYI – Decatur PD was on the scene)
We’re into day 2 of recovery from Hurricane Irma. Obviously there are many who have suffered much worse in the Irma’s wake. Thank goodness most area grocery stores have reopened and that MARTA is back up and running, so many of our problems at this point are limited to inconvience.
Just one man’s account as a way to distract himself from the fact that he still doesn’t have power.
How are the rest of you all faring?
