As St. Louis braces for a sweep of winter weather, residents are taking no chances. Local grocery stores have witnessed a surge of customers stocking up on essentials like milk, bread, and eggs, recalling the haste spurred by early January storms. According to a report by FOX 2 Now, despite forecasts not predicting heavy snowfall, the threat of sleet has driven the St. Louis community to prepare for the worst.
Moreover, the area's street departments are not sitting idle; pretreatment of roads is a top priority ahead of the potential Wednesday snow. Ferguson Public Works Director Koray Gilbert stated in an interview with First Alert 4, "Pretreating kind of puts you ahead of the game. Then when it comes all you can do is just fight it." With prior experience of last month's storm, residents like Doniesha Watson are running errands to stock up on necessities in advance. Some county residents are also ensuring they have enough groceries to avoid venturing out amid the snowfall.
City officials have issued warnings and advice in anticipation of the inclement weather. The City of St. Louis, acknowledging past critiques for slow storm responses, shared that residential streets will not be plowed. This course of action was made after previous attempts led to damaged vehicles and obstructed cars due to the wide size of city plow trucks, explained City of St. Louis spokesperson Conner Kerrigan in a statement obtained by 5 On Your Side. Kerrigan added, "We've learned a couple lessons from last storm, and we admit that there were some misses on last time that we need to correct."
Residents are being urged to refrain from parking on snow routes and to shovel their sidewalks, with special instructions given for those living on hill routes. While the city has announced that trash collection should not be affected, they plan to monitor the situation closely. Furthermore, there is a move underway by Mayor Tishaura Jones and the Board of Aldermen, aiming to update ordinances, including possible limited parking on snow routes, to better manage such weather events in the future.
