Georgia Gov. Calls Snow Days, Citing Fuel Shortages
ATLANTA-Concerned that Hurricanes Rita and Katrina would result in a shortage of fuel, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue asked schools across the state to close on Sept. 26 and Sept. 27, in what he described as “early snow days.” Perdue did not order schools to close, but said he expected virtually every system to comply with his request.
Word filtered out to parents, dismaying some who said they would be left to scramble to find childcare. All but three of the state’s 181 school districts agreed to close.
Perdue warned Georgians that Rita would affect a significant portion of the state’s refining capacity and potentially interrupt fuel supply. He said he hoped that an array of conservation strategies – including the apparently unprecedented measure of closing schools – would avert a crisis.
Perdue said shutting the schools for two days would save more than 550,000 gallons of diesel fuel, as well as heating and cooling costs.