RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Prepping for snow takes on many forms.
For some people, it’s as simple as picking something up from a hardware store. For the North Carolina Department of Transportation, it requires a little more work. One thing they all have in common is it’s been a while since having to deal with snow.
Central North Carolina hasn’t had measurable snow in about three years, but that’s expected to change Friday into Saturday.
At Town & Country Hardware in Raleigh, sleds, ice melt, snow brushes, and insulated faucet caps were the hot-selling items on Wednesday.
When asked if the store sold out of anything, employee Lawrence said, “I don’t think we have sold out because we’ve had stuff left over from last year. The year before, we purchased a lot and there were things left over. And we have got some new merchandise in.”
While people prep their homes, NCDOT is prepping the roads. Crews were making brine to keep snow and ice from sticking to the road, treating less traveled roads Wednesday and more traveled ones as the snow gets closer. 14,000 tons of salt are ready to go for central North Carolina.
Officials at RDU said contractors are coming in to help in case runways, taxiways, and other parts of airport property have to be plowed or treated for ice.
Duke Energy is setting up storm response teams to help respond to any outages.
“It only takes about 1/4 of an inch before we start seeing tree limbs coming down, even trees coming down,” spokesperson Jeff Brooks said. “That can cause outages when they hit our power lines and damage our poles.”