Emergency preparedness officials in New Brunswick want to make sure residents are ready for potential emergencies as a winter storm is expected to move in overnight.
READ MORE: New Brunswick storm shines light on need for emergency preparedness kits
Weather forecasts are predicting high winds and 10-20 cm of snow in some parts of the province heading into Friday morning.
New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization director Greg MacCallum said it’s important for people to be prepared for emergency situations.
“We could have instances of power outages, we’re going to have some winds, we’re going to have some snow and we’re going to have some impacts on our highways so it’s going to be difficult for people to get around potentially,” said MacCallum at a news conference Thursday morning.
MacCallum said it’s critical for New Brunswickers to have emergency kits, with enough supplies to last them up to three days.
“We want to make sure people have what they need, whether it’s food, medication – sometimes people forget about taking those things along – batteries for your flashlights and your little radios or things you need to stay informed and cash because the ATM machines may not always be working,” MacCallum said.
Mike Walker, the City of Fredericton‘s manager of roads and streets, said the city will be ready for whatever the weather brings.
“We’ll have all of our plow gear on. We’ll have the salt trucks loaded with salt and everything fuelled up and ready to go. Our staff would be monitoring the storm and being prepared to come in when required tonight,” Walker said.
Walker said that during a snow storm there are 10 salt trucks in Fredericton. He said they start with the main streets and get them as cleared-off as possible, before moving on to neighbourhoods.
“After the storm has ended we’ve got 23 plows that would hit every street in the city, that’s for the streets and we’ve got 14 sidewalk plows we would deploy,” Walker said.
MacCallum said the province works with municipalities across the province to prepare for storms.
“I want to ensure New Brunswickers that they are well cared for when it comes to emergency response, whether it’s at the local level or at the provincial level. The resources that are necessary to deal with emergencies are available and will be employed as necessary,” MacCallum said.
NB Power spokesperson Marie-Andree Bolduc told Global News they are also preparing for the storm and agrees it’s important for people to have 72-hour emergency preparedness kids.
READ MORE: First winter storm of 2016 brings New Brunswick to a grinding halt
“We’re definitely monitoring the storm system that’s going to come through overnight we have crew, a full compliment of regular crews, our regular crews that are out throughout the province they’re ready to go if need be but we’ve also staged additional contractor crews in certain areas of the province,” Bolduc said.
She said customers experiencing outages can call and let staff know or they can report an outage online through their “charged smart phones.”
MacCallum said it’s important to have access to a “crank radio” and says the province has an emergency public alert system to broadcast important emergency information in both languages on all radio and TV stations. He said New Brunswickers can rely on the alert system to provide them with life saving alert information relating to developing emergencies.
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