As a potent winter storm approaches North Carolina, counties are mobilizing to tackle the anticipated challenges of snow, sleet and ice.
Counties across the state are preparing for an approaching winter storm will bring a mix of snow, sleet and ice to North Carolina.
At the Wake County Emergency Operations Center on Tuesday, all eyes were on the roads. Crews can pull up live feeds of what's happening on the roadways and monitor conditions. The biggest concern with Wednesday's winter storm is ice, which can lead to downed trees and loss of power.
"It's hard to know what the impacts are going to be, we prepare for the worse, which for us is going to be ice," said Wake County Emergency Management coordinator Autumn Goheen.
"The roads are dangerous. It won't be as easy for you to get to store to get supplies."
Goheen said people should plan for a "tricky afternoon" on Wednesday and make sure they have an emergency kit packed including flashlights, blankets and anything you family needs to make it through ours without power.
The North Carolina State Department of Transportation says this winter storm is unique, especially where the snow, sleet and freezing rain lines are for counties in the Triangle area south.
"With brine, snow goes first then you get the freezing rain snow also protects the road from ice accumulating, it's a better situation for those who get snow first," said NCDOT spokesperson Kim Deaner.
Since Sunday, crews have put down more than 338,000 gallons of brine.
The Johnston County Emergency Operations Center will be packed with people on Wednesday from risk management and EMS to fire fighters and shelter operations managers.
Emergency Services Director Kevin Hubbard said Tuesday, they were in the "wait and see mode." He was in an out of meetings, watching forecasts and coordinating the agencies that will work together to keep people safe when the storm hits.
"Our primary role is coordinating with those folks, making sure that they have the information they need. We send out all the weather updates daily as we get them. If anybody has any specific needs or requests, they contact us, and we do what we do what we can to help them out to get those things in place," Hubbard said.
Within the county, individual cities and towns have de-icing operations underway to supplement what NCDOT does.
WRAL met up with a team in Clayton as they brined the side streets on Tuesday. Even with brine, roads can still be icy under the right conditions.
Trees can also become dangerous when ice accumulates on the branches and can them to snap.
"Different trees respond differently to ice. Pine is one that as soon as there's as soon as there's a lot of ice on it, it will snap easily. Maple is another type of tree that breaks very easily in a storm when there's a lot of weight on it. You'll want to take preventative measures if you can," said Theodore Hsu with Schnell Tree Services in Fayetteville.