Governor Deal met with the head of Georgia's Emergency Management Agency as well as transportation and public safety commissioners on Thursday. He says they talked about lessons learned from last week's snow storm and how to get ready for the ice storm expected to hit north Georgia early next week.

"We've always dreaded, here in Georgia, ice storms because of the porclivity for knocking down power lines. If it is a true ice storm of the kind we're accustomed to in the past we will see the utility companies on the front line along with the gentlemen that represent their departments here today."

Deal says he will enter an executive order to empower GEMA to coordinate across departments and improve Georgia's response to major storms.

Tags: transportation, Nathan Deal, weather, north Georgia, GEMA, ice storm, public safety commissioners