After last week's winter storms dumped over a foot of snow on East Central Minnesota, the Pine County Board declared a local emergency.
According to documents, the county reached 50% of its damage threshold for a State Disaster Declaration.
Denise Anderson with the Pine County Sheriff's told the county board that one of the energy cooperatives in Pine County met that 50% threshold by itself.
"We have a lot of debris clean up, we have a lot of snow plowing left to do, and unfortunately, we have more weather coming in this week that everybody believes will cause more damage," Anderson told the board.
The county board approved declaring the local emergency from the previous storm unanimously. The county can now begin the process of receiving assistance for public infrastructure.
In anticipation of the coming weather event, the Pine County Sheriff's Office is asking residents to prepare for high winds, negative temperatures with dangerous wind chill, and more snow.
Severe weather is slated to begin Wednesday and continue through Friday through Saturday. Heavy snow could weigh down trees and powerlines, causing power outages.
The sheriff's office released a list of things to plan and prepare in order to stay safe:
WATER: Plan for a water supply in case the weather doesn’t allow for you to travel. Pick up
more water jugs, cases of water, or melt snow if you need to. A few days supply more than
anticipated is best.
FOOD: Plan for food that does not have to be cooked if you don’t have an alternative cooking method when the power is out. If you are using grills, camp stoves, etc., plan for safety accordingly.
GENERATOR: If you are running a generator, plan for ventilation. Generators are made to run outside.
STORAGE: Think outside the box when it comes to refrigerated/frozen items and store them
outside if you need to.
Residents are also asked to check on their neighbors and relatives. A phone call to check in always helps since the sheriff’s office is not always able to check every road or residence.
For updates as things progress, you can listen to 100.9 FM or check the WCMP or Pine County Sheriff's Office Facebook pages.
