Plow and electrical crews preparing for potential severe weather
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(ABC 6 News) – The Minnesota Department of Transportation is preparing for wintry weather in southeast Minnesota Friday night into Saturday morning.
Snow plow drivers are planning on being on the roads around the I-35 corridor Thursday afternoon in preparation for wintery weather.
Currently, they’re preparing for all possibilities.
MnDot plow drivers are not going to be laying down salt if it continues to rain, they don’t want it to wash away.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, if temps drop below freezing and that ice starts to form, they’ll be ready with the salt and brine.
But no matter what, MnDot is ready for it all.
“Whatever falls, we’ll have the snow plows out overnight,” says Mike Dougherty, MnDot Director of Public Engagement and Communications. “Whether it’s ice, snow, that wintery mix, we’ll be either be blading it off or putting down some type of brine, or rock salt, something like that to deal with it individually.”
Meanwhile in Iowa, crews with Alliant Energy are also preparing.
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The energy company is preparing for potential outages, and there have already been a few in the central part of the state earlier today.
High wind gusts, hail, and even tornadoes could knock down power lines or disrupt power grids.
Alliant Energy is reminding customers, if you do see a downed power line, avoid it, and overall, just stay safe.
“We’ve got crews out preparing, and we’ll be ready to respond if need be to any outages that happen,” says Tony Palese, a spokesperson with Alliant Energy. “But again, we want to remind customers to stay safe, take precautions, and most importantly avoid downed powerlines if you come into contact with those.”
If you do lose power at your home, you can report it online.
You can also stay up to date with how long it may be until power is restored.
Keep in mind, crews need to stay sage as well, so delays could be expected.
Make sure to tune in to ABC 6 News for the latest severe weather coverage or online, HERE.