LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in anticipation of the incoming winter storm, meaning the National Guard has been deployed to Louisville.

Members from Emergency Management, Kentucky State Police, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet met at the Joint Operations Center at the Boone National Guard Center in Frankfort to make sure drivers are safe on the roads.

The state's Emergency Operations Center is a hub for the agencies to work together during weather events. From there, they watch road conditions or the Emergency Management dashboard on large screens to see what areas of the state could be impacted. 

"A lot of states don't have their military operations center co-located with their Civilian Operations Center, so in Kentucky we have kind of a unique capability that I can walk downstairs, they know me, I know them, and it's really easy to have that face-to-face if we need clarification on what capability they need," Maj. Brian Stafford, director of Military Support for the Kentucky National Guard. 

When the storm comes through the commonwealth, the National Guard is ready to keep the roads clear.

"If it gets slick and they can't move in the travel portion of the roadway, we would move it into the emergency lane or if there's an exit close we might pull it completely off of the interstate," Stafford said. "But our focus is going to be keeping our major corridors open."

Stafford said any time there's an incline, and there is ice on the road, there are going to be problems. Upstairs at the Center, units are on standby for their assigned locations.

As one of the planning and operations officers and the director of Military Support, Stafford has been planning for this event well before the governor deployed the National Guard on Wednesday, figuring out what major highways they traditionally have problems on.

"We assigned one to cover I-75 from the Tennessee line up to Clays Ferry, and another unit has it from Clays Ferry to Georgetown, and somebody else is covering it from Georgetown to the Ohio line," he said.

For Thursday into Friday's event, the five units deployed across the state have been ready for about a month, able to get to an area that needs help within minutes.

Stafford said as many as 20 people can be working in the Center for an event like this week's storm. For the eastern Kentucky floods and western Kentucky tornadoes, officials said 200 people were working in the Center. 

Crews will be working there through the night and into Friday until roads are safe.

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