Towns brace for nor’easter

Local public works crews prepare snowplows, drivers for all-nighter

TORRINGTON — Towns and people in the Northwest Corner prepared for a nor’easter Tuesday, as the National Weather Service projected at least a foot of snow could fall in Torrington and more in towns to the north and west.

Torrington Superintendent of Streets Bill Mayers said Tuesday street department employees were working on the city’s fleet of snowplows, including checking on the blades. He said they expected wet snow, given the time of year, and planned to stay ahead of it during the storm.

The city has 19 trucks and 19 drivers for a full-scale storm like the one in the forecast, Mayers said. They will all be on the road throughout the storm.

“We can get an all-nighter out of them,” said Mayers.

Drivers are allowed to take breaks as they choose during the storm, and Mayers said they would be sent home if they became too tired.

“It’s a tough job. It’s a difficult job for (those that do it),” Mayers said.

He suggested city residents stay off the roads Wednesday and wait to clear their driveways and sidewalks until the Street Department has finished plowing, preventing snow from being thrown into the road or pushed

into driveways.

Litchfield Public Works Director Raz Alexe said his workers were preparing for the storm, with the expectation of a 24-hour weather event.

Alexe said crews were prepared to serve overnight and had effectively been on call since Nov. 15.

Snowplows handle 11 routes in Litchfield, Alexe said. One of these routes runs for 18 miles — it would be tiring, he said, for a driver to travel back-and-forth to clear it three to four times over the course of the storm.

“That factor is, for me, the No. 1 issue, other than the safety of the residents,” Alexe said.

Crews can take breaks, and are asked to stay in touch, Alexe said. The vehicles are GPS-monitored and radio-equipped.

Unlike its predecessor, the storm is likely to produce more snow, with less sleet and ice, Alexe said.

“The last one had a lot of the freezing-and-thawing factor,” he said. “In a way, it’s a little bit easier just to push the snow.”

Winsted Director of Public Works Jim Rollins and Superintendent of Streets Dennis Millard did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

The town issued a parking ban Tuesday. Motorists will be prohibited from parking on the streets from noon Wednesday through 7 a.m. Friday. The Torrington Fire Department had laid out chains for its emergency apparatus on Tuesday afternoon.

Engine 3, which Deputy Fire Chief David Tripp said would only be used in case of a significant call, was already chained — the other vehicles would be addressed as the storm began.

As of 5 p.m., the Albany branch of the National Weather Service projected a foot of snow could fall in Torrington during the storm, which is expected to continue into early Thursday.

The weather service said there was a 76 percent chance that 8 inches or more of snow could come down in Torrington, and a 48 percent chance that it could receive a foot or more.

Ben Lambert / Hearst Connecticut Media The salt and sand mixture awaits use Tuesday in the Torrington Street Department’s facility as local towns prepared for the coming snowstorm. The National Weather Service forecast about a foot of snow could fall in Torrington and perhaps more in points...

Ben Lambert / Hearst Connecticut Media Torrington firefighters placed chains on the tires of a firetruck ahead of Wednesday’s expected nor’easter.