As the Hub City receives about three inches of snow Friday, city officials implement the new snow policy and procedures.
Starting at 6 a.m. Friday morning, City officials from each department met at the situation room to begin preparations for the first snow of the year.
“We’ve got representatives from police, fire, city manager, LP&L, the streets department, utilities,” Lubbock Fire Department Steve Holland said. “So we’re all here prepared, watching the situation, ready to be ahead of the curve if things get out of control.”
The new snow policy outlines a new set of procedures for snow and ice removal, along with routes, and new equipment purchased by the city.
“Right now we do have 10 of our salt, sand trucks out,” Lubbock Public Information Manager Ben Lawson said. “They are spreading down a salt, sand mixture. Focusing on the major roads and intersection, trying to prevent any slick spots.”
Since 9 a.m., Lubbock Police Department reported 48 traffic accidents across town, several on Indiana Avenue. No major injuries were reported.
“We make sure that our officers are prepared,” Lubbock Police’s Tiffany Pelt said. “One thing that we look out for are accidents, are vehicles being abandoned, because of cold weather, maybe breaking down on the side of the road.”
No major power outages were reported. However. Lubbock Power and Light’s Matt Rose said their crews will be out and on alert until Saturday morning.
“Normally what’s going to cause outages will be ice, or wind, or some combination of the two,” Rose said. “Snow typically is not something that will cause widespread outages but the effects of the snow, car crashes into electrical poles, trees getting weighed down by and falling into lines, they can cause outages.”
For any outage, Rose said to call their office at 775-2509. However, he added it is best to email or send a text message with a name, address, and brief description of the outage to lightsout@lpandl.com.
