Winter Storm Olive promises to bring a mix of snow, sleet and ice to the metro area beginning Wednesday, and the City of Buffalo and National Grid are prepping for what could be hazardous weather conditions due to the ice.
Buffalo Department of Public Works Commissioner Nate Marton said a tenth of an inch of ice is expected.
“From the city's perspective, we're preparing for that full range, snow, sleet and ice,” he said. “And the amount of ice is really going to be the concern, one of the main concerns of this storm.”
Crews are out early pre-salting streets.
“We've got plenty of salt,” he said. “I think we've got about 3,000 tons behind us. I think you know, 3,500 tons at another facility, so we have plenty of salt to handle this.”
National Grid Regional Director Ken Kujawa said the ice could cause power outages across the region, but additional crews are on hand to help respond.
“The presence of ice that we're going to see later on today obviously has the potential to cause trees to come down, which can bring down our facilities and caused power outages for our customers," Kujawa said. "National Grid is preparing for this event.”
He cautions customers to be careful near downed power lines.
“Please treat all downed wires as if they are live.”
Additionally, Marton said the City of Buffalo will evaluate warming shelters and Code Blue advisories as the temperature drops.
