Posted on Leave a comment

Warwick Prepares for ‘Potentially Historic’ Storm

Warwick, RI  – Cars and customers packed the lots and aisles of grocery, hardware and supply stores Monday as a blizzard the National Weather Service warns is “crippling and potentially historic” approached.

Read the latest updates on the first blizzard of 2015 on the Warwick Post Storm Center.

At Dave’s Marketplace on Airport Road early this afternoon, Diane Angel of Warwick walked slowly toward the doors for milk to use in her coffee during the storm.

The blizzard could bring as much as 30 inches of snow, and is expected to deliver winds at 24 to 28 mph, with gusts as high as 60 mph.

“I’m worried about how deep it’s going to be, and shoveling,” Angel said.

Angel and others who need help with clearing snow can ask for assistance from Serve RI at 401-331-2298. The organization is also is looking for volunteers to help neighbors in need shovel out after the storm. You can sign up to help folks like Angel here.

Inside the store, customers bustled politely through the aisles and register lines. Manager Jim Hurton said the store’s been doing Christmas-level business all day.

Earlier that morning, he said, the Warwick Police Department had stopped by to purchase a few carriages of food for what emergency responders, road crews and city personnel expect will be a long few days.

Hurton said all the customers have been very courteous despite worries about the approaching blizzard. He said the store has been running with extra staff to help with the holiday-level business.

Also, he said, the store just received a milk order, so they should have plenty to last throughout the day as people continue to stock up.

At Benny’s on Warwick Avenue, a steady stream of customers pulled into the lot, purchased supplies and left quickly.

Bree Clouitman, a student living in Providence, left with a small trunk-sized shovel so she’d be sure to be able to dig herself out of her dorm, she said.

At the lot outside Ocean State Job Lot and Advanced Auto Parts, Dan Hurley of Cranston was heading home with a shovel and a tarp to put over his snow blower. He said he was taking the warnings of a major blizzard seriously.

“I think we should be,” he said. “I’m not looking forward to it but that’s what you get when you live here. My kids will enjoy it.”

Nearby,  Guy Perkins, who expressed surprise that anyone living in the area isn’t already prepared for a snowstorm, wasn’t sweating it.

“I’m all set,” he said. But he did need a spare battery for his mother’s lift, to help her stand up from her chair.

At the DPW’s Highway Department on Sandy Lane, Highway Chief Bob Benoit offered a couple adjectives when asked how his day was going.

“Busy,” he said, and “Hectic.”

Benoit said half his fleet of 64 city plows and 18 sand trucks was already on the road as a few light flurries had begun to fall at about 1 p.m. He said  he’d already called in the 22 private trucks on-call to aid in clearing city roads.

Joel Butler, the Highway Department’s senior heavy equipment operator, said he’d been with the department since 1984, so he wasn’t around for the Blizzard of ’78. But he and the current crew were around for a less severe blizzard a few years ago, so he feels confident they can handle the latest storm.

As for whether the storm will come close to being as severe as ’78, “I think it could be,” Butler said. His motto for the storm, which could last until the very early hours of Wednesday morning, is to put your head down, and keep up.

“Chug along,” Butler said.

Rob Borkowski
Author: Rob Borkowski

Rob has worked as reporter and editor for several publications, including The Kent County Daily Times and Coventry Courier, before working for Gatehouse in MA then moving home with Patch Media. Now he's publisher and editor of WarwickPost.com. Contact him at [email protected] with tips, press releases, advertising inquiries, and concerns.

This is a test