STONINGTON, Conn. — New London County's blizzard warning is the first for any county in the state in four years and with that comes the concern of not only snow piling up, but also the potential for coastal flooding.
The good news, a wind howling out of the northeast will push water away from land rather than toward it. But, the wind could cause other issues.
Early Friday evening, the marathon began for the Stonington Highway Department at their salt shed. Their road treatment product, from Morton Salt, is appropriately called Blizzard Wizard.
"That'll give us some time to pre-treat all our roads, be situated and ready to go, as the snow builds up it starts to build the brine from the snow mixture with the salt, and then hopefully that promotes a quicker cleanup," said Tom Curioso, Stonington's Highway Supervisor.
But with any blizzard, winds can wreak havoc by drifting snow.
"We have a lot of rural roads that are flat and wide open plainish areas and it will drift," said Curioso. "And the quote from the old-time snow plowers is 'you lose your roads.'"
That's because drifting can cause the roads to become unrecognizable.
"There probably will come a time where it'll be prudent to just take our crews off the road if they can't see where they're going," said Brian Sear, Director of New London Public Works.
In East Haven, folks near Cosey Beach are always prepared. The town's Emergency Management Director noted they may experience wind gusts of 50 MPH.
"We have a concern about some coastal flooding which is always an issue here," said Chief Matt Marcarelli or the East Haven Fire Department. "So we will be ahead of that and we've been vacuuming all the storm drains."
What they don't want is flooding and a freeze.
All communities, including neighboring New Haven, want folks to stay home. But what about those who have no home?
"Our outreach team has been going out in anticipation of the storm for the past few days to places where people typically have encampments," said Mayor Justin Elicker (D-New Haven)
If shelters are full, some of New Haven's homeless will be put up in hotels.
Tony Terzi is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at tterzi@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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