In Denton County road crews already have their trucks loaded. They are ready to spread salt and sand where needed.
“Our crews, we work in 24 hours a day, in three different shifts, nine-hour shifts,” Denton County Judge Andy Eads said. “They'll be overlapping, and so they are going to be, they've already started sanding and salting our county roads.”
Where they may be needed is coordinated in the county's Emergency Operations Center. Wednesday night they went to 24-hour operations.
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“We’ll be in overnight response,” Office of Emergency Management director Samantha Taylor said. “We monitor the weather here, county cameras, coordinate with those out in the field, our road and bridge crew who’s been gracious to go ahead and start sanding the roads and pre-treating.”
Agencies that help the homeless are also prepared for the winter weather which usually brings more people into shelters.
At Our Daily Bread, the normal capacity is about 175 people. They are now prepared to feed and shelter more than 240 if needed.
“The city of Denton just brought us some additional cots that we can put out, and we've already planned a space in the shelter to be able to absorb overflow,” Our Daily Bread executive director Wendy McGee said. “We've already done a count of how many sleeping bags we have on hand and how many blankets we can put down to make a pallet on the floor if we have to.”
The city and county are prepared and they also advised residents to do the same.
“Make sure you have a kit for home,” Taylor said. “If you are traveling in your vehicle one for your vehicle or work. Know how to turn off water. If pipes do end up bursting, where is that emergency shut-off switch.”
“I think one of the things that I asked all of our Denton County residents to do is to be emergency-minded,” Eads said.
