Expected impacted counties prepare for upcoming winter storm

LEBANON, Mo. — Randy Rowe, Director of Laclede County's Office of Emergency Management says he is in the business of keeping people calm.

That's what he's stressing as we inch closer to a predicted winter weather storm that could feature all kinds of winter precipitation.

"What we would like for you to do to prepare for this potential event, and that is if you shelter in place, get what you would need at your house to survive 3 to 5 days of shelter in place," Rowe said. "That looks like, for water, an estimation of two gallons to three gallons per person in the household. Food. Your medication, your scripts for your medication, your pet supplies, a secondary heat source. Check all of your smoke detectors and CO2 monitors to make sure they're working.

Rowe says he hasn't seen any panic shopping in the Lebanon area.

"My wife went to Walmart yesterday when she heard that it was coming and she saw that Wal Mart here was a parking lot was about probably 75% full, but there wasn't the normal panic shopping. I mean, there was still bread, milk, water, the staples that you need," Rowe said. "There's no reason to panic at this point. I mean, we have all the bases covered. All of the different partners that need to be notified have been notified, and they're prepping up internally like we are. It's better always to have and not need than to need one time and not have it.

OzarksFirst asked who is involved in the prep work and what that preparation looks like.

"A lot of fire departments as well as the OEM staff and the Laclede County Sheriff's Department and Lebanon PD and the Missouri Highway Patrol. I mean, we're all one team here and all of those folks are prepping, you know, for the worst and expecting something less than that," Rowe said. "We will be activating as of this time unless something changes, we will activate this EOC (Emergency Operating Center) to a level two on Sunday morning at about 6 a.m. and we'll have our conference room, our war room set up back here, and we'll have team players from all of the different partners."

Jason Shafer with MoDOT's Central District says they're focusing on counties north and northeast of Greene County, which are projected to be impacted the worst.

"The forecast that we've got throughout the state is pretty ugly. There's nothing pretty about it. You know, you go the northern part of the state, you got snow, then you got a nice transition area or it's a buffet of bad between like I-70 and Highway 50, then you start to get freezing rain the further south you go to probably you know, in towards the southern end of the state before it finally transitions to rain," Shafer said. "The forecasts don't generate a lot of enthusiasm as far as a good outcome. Now that being the case, you know, I say that because it's been many years since we've had a forecast this look this dire and had something that turned out to the magnitude that what is being forecast right now, you know, forecasts always tend to change as you get closer to the time, so we're hoping some of this backs off. We're going to do everything we can, but it's a lot of the other issues that we're concerned about. As far as, you know, we've got along the I-44 corridor, you know, forecast for maybe up to half an inch of ice, start getting a lot of trees breaking, power lines falling, that type of thing. There's a lot of things that we're trying to plan for and anticipate. Just that way we can respond as best we can."

Shafer says MoDOT is also doing preparations behind the scenes.

"We've been spending the last couple days and today in particular, we're going through and making sure that we've got chainsaws that are ready to go, any fuel treatment that we may need to have as far as temperatures that are dropping, making sure all equipment is up and ready to go, You know, we've got some pieces of equipment that we may not have used in a while, just making sure that all is good. They're changing fuel filters, that type of thing. So got a lot of people doing a lot of work. That's a lot of the background stuff that you don't see leading up to a storm, but we've been busy for a couple of days now," Shafer said.

Shafer says they've got plenty of salt but will monitor the situation before using it, depending on the temperature and amount of rain that could wash the salt away before it can make an impact.

He adds the best advice is to stay home if possible.

"I encourage people to just stay at home, if at all possible on Sunday, in particular Monday, also because the weather is going to be bad and there's no point getting out if you don't have to because you don't want to endanger yourself, unless you really, really, really have to get out because it's going to be ugly," Shafer said.  

Shoppers Chris and Lois Blair are getting their items while in Lebanon but will make sure their generators are ready to go following a near-tragedy 18 years ago.

"We had to have [generators] because [the ice storm in] 2007. One power went out. I had a heart attack. So seven days with no power. Yeah, So that was rough," Lois Blair said.

"With the storm coming or anything and we don't really know how bad [it will be]. You never know in the Ozarks. That's why I love living here," Chris Blair said. "Be very careful, you can't get around too fast. You don't need to be in a hurry. Take your time and God will get you there."