Dougherty County EMA braces for plunging temperatures over Christmas weekend

ALBANY — The Dougherty County Emergency Management Agency is gearing up to help keep residents safe during what is expected to be one of the more severe freeze events of the last several decades.

The agency is opening the Emergency Operations Center and putting other measures in place, county officials said in a news release, and the city of Albany will operate two warming centers for four days.

The city is launching Operation Safe Place at two locations: the Bill Mill Community Center at 312 Vick St. and Driskell Community Center at 1023 S. McKinley St.

The two locations will be open from 8 p.m.-noon each day Saturday through Monday.

To volunteer assistance at those locations, or for more information, contact Velvet Poole, community outreach superintendent with the Albany Recreation and Parks Department, at (229) 854-0742.

Temperatures will fall sharply across southwest Georgia into the 20s and 30s through Friday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service office in Tallahassee. The office’s entire coverage area of southern Alabama, southwest Georgia and northern Florida can expect hard freezes Friday night through Sunday night.

In addition, high winds will bring the effective temperature down across the region, the agency said, and a wind chill advisory goes into effect for the region on Friday evening. Saturday temperatures likely will not get above freezing.

The local emergency declaration was signed by Albany Mayor Bo Dorough and Dougherty County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas.

“It basically puts measures in place to protect people, so things like price gouging don’t happen,” Krista Monk, the city’s public information officer, said. “It just puts certain measures in place.”

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