FITCHBURG, MASS. (WHDH) - With an ice storm barreling toward New England, the salt is piled high in Chelsea and trucks across the state are out in force trying to keep the roads safe.
The Central Mass. corridor from Worcester up north is slated to see some of the worst of the storm. The risk comes in the form of icy roads, but Eversource and National Grid say they’re also monitoring power outages.
“With ice, it’ll tend to weigh down those tree branches so that they fall, and a lot of times they fall on our equipment causing damage and causing outages,” Eversource spokesman Reid Lamberty said.
“We’re trying to get ahead of this storm,” National Grid spokesman Justin Drake said. “We’re gonna monitor it as it rolls in.”
In Fitchburg, the roadways are already dicey.
“It is bad, it is bad… it’s frozen,” Hector Norataya told 7NEWS.
Those in the area say they know they are in for a tough 12 hours.
“We got a big bucket of salt to use if we need to get the wheels undone,” Mike Ernst said.
Rey Mateo spent the afternoon salting the parking lot of his auto dealership. He also works as a plow driver for the city of Leominster.
“People gotta be careful, honestly because you don’t know how bad it’s gonna be in one area, some areas are worse than other ones,” he explained.
People in Worcester were found stocking up on salt and other necessities well in advance.
Mateo said even though this may be an unusual winter storm he trusts people will take it seriously.
“If people drive easy and respect one another, everything should be fine,” he said.
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