LENOIR, N.C. — Channel 9′s Dave Faherty saw plows on several trucks in Hickory, Morganton and Lenoir on Tuesday.
In Hickory, they were putting brine down on bridges and trouble spots across the city.
The Public Works director in Hickory says their salt spreaders are in place but they’re holding off on putting the plows on the trucks
He says that could quickly change Wednesday morning if the snow totals go up.
The Catawba North Carolina Department of Transportation also rolled out several of its trucks along Interstate 40 where they are putting the saltwater mixture down on all the exit ramps.
The Burke County North Carolina Department of Transportation also had their plows on trucks and are ready to work 12-hour shifts starting at 6 a.m. Wednesday.
Lenoir officials told Faherty they are putting salt down on all the sidewalks in the downtown area.
“We’re getting ready to put some salt spreaders in some of our smaller trucks,” said Gary Winebarger, with Lenoir Public Works. “If it looks like it’s going to get real bad, we’ll upfit our other trucks with plows and chains.”
It is uncertain how much snow the Foothills will get so the plans could change going into the overnight hours.
Faherty also reached out to some local school districts.
Burke County Schools officials said it will be around 5 p.m. Tuesday before they decide about school on Wednesday.
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Blue Ridge Energy crews say their saws are sharpened after an ice storm last week knocked out power to tens of thousands of customers across the High Country. Some of the linemen here worked 14-hour shifts for several days to get all the power back on.
“We worked a lot last week but we got some rest last night and we got our saws sharpened up and if it snows we’ll be ready to go,” said Caleb Braswell, with Blue Ridge Energy.
In the Oak Hill community east of Lenoir, visitor Randy Bills and his family gathered for a reunion this week in a 90-year-old home heated with a wood stove. They’ve restocked the wood and are prepared if the power goes out.
“It figures it would happen with us here, coming here,” Bills said. “They’re talking about snow tomorrow. We’re going to see how it is. We’re from Georgia and we don’t get snow very much.”
VIDEO: Faherty’s Tuesday afternoon report from the Foothills
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