News 12 at six o'clock -- February 13, 2010

AUGUSTA --- The "big snow" was only here one day, but it sure left its mark. The icy conditions caused dozens of car accidents and left thousands without power.

The blankets of snow may be nice to look at, but for some people heavy snowfall is not a welcome sight.

"I hate it. I absolutely hate it," says Pat Cumiskey. "I don't like cold weather and I don't like the snow. I went to bed depressed and I woke up with no power."

And he is not the only one. Friday night's heavy snowfall left nearly 20,000 Georgia Power customers in the dark -- and that's just in Augusta. More than 47,000 people lost power across Georgia.

Georgia Power brought in crews from Atlanta and around the state to help restore power in Augusta. And by Saturday afternoon, most people were back up and running.

And in North Augusta, the storm caused a transformer to blow Friday night, knocking out power downtown.

While some people had a ball playing in the snow, for others, the weather just brought on more work. Gene Gilbert spent the morning clearing tree branches out of his and neighbors' yards.

"There are a lot of trees in this neighborhood, so every time there's a wind storm or ice storm or any storm, we have branches fall," Gene says.

And that seems to be the trend. Across Aiken, Edgefield and Richmond counties, roadsides were littered with fallen trees and branches.

But the biggest problem? The roads themselves.

"People start sliding and don't know how to correct themselves," says Lt. Jimmy Wylds. "They run off the road and get stuck in a ditch."

Lt. Wylds and Richmond County officers responded to more than 80 weather related accidents, most of them without serious injuries. He says the majority of them took place late Friday night and into Saturday morning.

Saturday's sunshine may have melted the snow away, but drivers aren't in the clear just yet.

"If the roads stay wet, we will have problems tonight," Lt. Wylds says.

Problems with water on the roads turning to ice. Temperatures are set to dip into the low twenties Saturday night, turning any water still on the roads into ice. Lt. Wylds says drivers should stick to main roads, and allot extra time for travel. But he says the best bet is to just stay inside.

And even though Friday night's snow turned into Saturday morning's headache, some people say it's worth it.

"The past few winters have been unseasonably warm, so it's good to have a cold winter for once," Gene says.

But others just want it to end.

"We'll make it through, and hope it doesn't do it again," says Pat "Come on summer!"

Georgia Power has restored power to almost all of its customers, with only 83 outages still remaining in Augusta. SC E&G reported 600 outages Saturday morning, but that number is down to just more than 300 in the Aiken and Barnwell areas.