Bedford DPW Prepares For Friday's Winter Storm

BEDFORD, N.Y. — DPW workers were busy Thursday preparing to keep Bedford running smoothly before, during and after winter storm Nemo.

Employees of Bedford's Department of Public Works employees were preparing roads and equipment Thursday for winter storm Nemo.
Photo Credit: *Liz Button*

by Liz Button

02/07/2013 3:30 p.m.

The most intense part of the storm is expected to occur Friday afternoon into Saturday morning.

While the National Weather Service warns of the possibility of "near blizzard conditions … bringing down some tree limbs … and causing scattered power outages," Public Works Commissioner Kevin Winn said he does not expect many broken branches and downed wires.

In part, this is because "at this time of year there are no leaves on the trees,” unlike during the October storms of 2011 and 2012, when snow piling on top of leaves and branches caused extensive tree damage, he said.

Winn said town officials participated in a 2 p.m. conference call with Con Edison in anticipation of possible outages.

Public Works crews were prepping the roads Thursday and getting all plowing and salting equipment ready for Friday, Winn said, when the storm is expected to bring wind gusts up to 50 mph and an accumulation of 6 to 10 inches by Friday night.

Some department trucks were still set up for brush clearing from Hurricane Sandy (a project now 95 percent complete) and just need minor modifications to be used for salting the roads.

"I think the biggest question is how much sleet and freezing rain we're going to get," Winn said.

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