Sixth anniversary of the 2014 ice storm

Wednesday marked the six-year anniversary of the ice storm of 2014, and the memory still lives vividly in the minds of many residents of Northwest Florida.

Roads and bridges across the area were shut down for hours, and businesses across the region were also shut down.

The Florida Department of Transportation has since taken steps to ensure they will be capable of meeting the challenge should an event like this occur again.

"Florida DOT actually does training exercises for winter weather conditions," said FDOT spokesperson Ian Satter. "We do those annually where we have a team go out, they make sure the equipment is operational, we train as many folks as we can here at DOT."

FDOT has invested in a number of salt trucks and other pieces of equipment designed for winter weather, and Bay County has increased its reach via Alert Bay so that residents can stay aware of quickly deteriorating weather conditions.