NEWTON COUNTY — A neighbor at a subdivision in Covington employed an unusual tool to de-ice roads in his subdivision -- a flame thrower. Jesse Gentes says it works much faster than salt or gravel.
“Yes, it’s very good. I usually use it for brush removal,” Gentes told Channel 2’s Tom Regan.
Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, several drivers lost control on an icy hill in the Plantation Trace subdivision.
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Several cars were left abandoned or slid off the road.
“We’ve been watching them get stuck all morning. One vehicle crashed but it did not hit another vehicle. It ping-ponged down the street, hit the curb and bounced back off. It hit a pole nothing of any value,” neighbor Brooke Woodall said.
Woodall showed Regan video shared by her son who is a UGA student. The video shows cars sliding out of control down ice-covered Lumpkin Street in Athens and crashing into other cars.
Fortunately, the situation was not that bad in her subdivision.
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“There are two other streets to get out of the subdivision that are not so hilly and covered with shade,” Woodall said.
Many cars slid off ice-covered roads in Covington Tuesday night. Police reported responding to dozens of accidents but no serious injuries.
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