Downtown Hickory bracing for winter storm

Downtown Hickory bracing for winter storm

Road crews in Hickory are continuing their preparations ahead of the snowfall expected Friday afternoon.

>> CLICK HERE for the latest forecast from Severe Weather Center 9

The city of Hickory has 16 snowplows ready to roll along with spreaders on many of their trucks.

Downtown Hickory businesses were putting out salt along the sidewalks Friday morning.

ALSO: NC transportation officials lay out plans for winter storm

The North Carolina Department of Transportation told Channel 9 that several roads across the state had already been treated with salt and brine on Thursday.

Earlier in the week, Channel 9′s Dave Faherty saw a lot of activity over at the NCDOT yard south of Morganton, where road crews already had plows on many of the trucks there.

Spreaders were loaded on the trucks and will be ready to roll Friday, with salt and dirt.

The county engineer told Channel 9 they’re also sharpening their chainsaws in case Burke County sees a lot of ice.

They have a huge stockpile of salt – nearly 2,400 tons.

NCDOT said its workers will be on 12-hour shifts to respond to any issues once the storm starts. They have nearly 2,000 trucks ready to go once the storm arrives.

Officials encouraged everyone to stay home and off the roads during the storm if possible.

(WATCH BELOW: Lingering Helene damage in mountains could cause outages)

Image Credits and Reference: https://www.yahoo.com/news/downtown-hickory-bracing-winter-storm-173236688.html