As a nor'easter hits Massachusetts Tuesday, the Bay State is bracing for impacts of the storm, with chances of high wind, coastal flooding and snow.
By 11 a.m., snow was falling across much of Massachusetts, though expected snowfall totals had dropped for much of the region from what was forecasted on Monday.
With the storm changing "pretty quickly," the Massachusetts Department of Transportation's fleet of emergency vehicles was planning to be flexible, to adjust to the conditions, Massachusetts Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver told NBC10 Boston Tuesday morning.
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"We have about 1,500 pieces of equipment out in the roadways," Gulliver said. "We brought in some of those crews last night and some this morning depending on which part of the state they were in to pre-treat."
Gulliver said there's pre-treat down on all the highways, so when the storm starts to pick up, "it gives everything a little bit of extra time before any sort of icing may occur."
As for Tuesday night, Gulliver said as roads get cleared, they will still be a little wet and with the temperatures dropping, it can lead to icy conditions.
"We're going to be putting material on down to make sure that we try to keep much of that ice off the roads as possible," he said.
If needed, the state has about 3,000 pieces of equipment available, Gulliver said, and is able to adjust in real-time.
Boston updates
While Boston is no longer expected to get slammed by the the storm, despite initial forecasts calling for a foot of snow, preparations were made.
School was canceled and most public buildings, like libraries and municipal offices, and community centers were also closed. At the Aquarium T stop, several feet of storm barriers were set up in preparation for flooding or storm surge.
The snow emergency and parking ban that Mayor Michelle Wu put in place for Boston was set to lift at 4 p.m., setting the 48-hour clock for space savers in the city (they are banned in the South End and Bay Village).
"I’m grateful for City teams who monitored the storm overnight and have been prepared to clear our roadways and respond to any emergencies," Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement Tuesday morning. "Even as the forecasts and weather conditions are shifting rapidly, we ask that you please check on your neighbors, family, and friends to be sure everyone is safe."
The hope had been that fewer people would head into the area when or if snow covers the streets and packed snow piles in spots across the city.
The path of the storm has changed significantly overnight, but city officials didn't waver on precautions. There were hundreds of vehicles out clearing the roads and salting for snow. Residents and businesses are expected to also maintain and clear sidewalks.
For anyone heading into Boston, whether by vehicle or the T, 311 will be incredibly helpful to report any issues or concerns. Twenty-four-hour shelters will be open and accepting walk-ins.
South Shore snow preps
In Wrentham, the rain and wind picked up early Tuesday morning, with the rain expected to transition over to snow later in the day.
The Wareham Emergency Management Agency warned that this is expected to be a wet and heavy snow, which could increase the possibility of power outages.
"I just hope we don't lose power, you know? That's the only thing," said Martha Fernandes of Wareham.
With that shift in the storm's path, comes an even greater concern for the chance of flooding along the South Shore.
Roadblocks were up in some places in Scituate, work crews were already out and about on the roads and along the coastline, sandbags were in place to help mitigate the expected flooding.
But even with all that preparation, Scituate town leaders canceled school Tuesday for all students because coastal flooding is expected around the time the students would've been released.
However, town leaders said that now frees up some crews from having to clean the parking lots of those schools, so they can focus their attention on low lying areas like Cole Parkway, Front Street and down by the Scituate Harbor, which is typically known as the danger zone.
"We pre-positioned our high-water vehicles from our police and fire in case we have to get people out of these places and then the DPW will pre-position barriers and things like that so that those areas that are flooding will be closed off to keep people from driving in it," said Town Manager James Boudreau.
Up to 60 plows and trucks are expected to be out and about on Tuesday.
North Shore flooding concerns
On Plum Island, it was extremely windy Tuesday. People were coming by to watch the waves in the morning. It's low tide now but later Tuesday, there could be some major flooding.
Just last month, a 30-foot section of the seawall on Beach Avenue in Salem gave way. The rush of water turned the Willows into an island for a few hours and flooded roughly 40 homes across the city.
The next high tide is at 2 p.m. Tuesday. That's when a lot of coastal communities on the North Shore, like Salem, are worried about potential flooding from this storm, especially with an astronomical high tide that's expected to reach 11 feet.
Residents have been coming by the beach Tuesday morning to watch the storm roll through.
"I grew up in Ipswich and it's kind of like a thing we do before a storm. It's just beautiful, the power of it and it doesn't come around too often, so when it does, I like to check it out," said Lance Leno.
Many schools in the area are closed Tuesday, including Newburyport, Salem, Beverly and Rockport.
How MetroWest is preparing
It looks like Worcester, however, will be spared from the worst of the snow, but the city still planned for it.
The snow started falling at about 5:30 a.m. but didn't start sticking on the roads until approximately 7:30 a.m. It's still not accumulating. However, it's slippery where it's sticking to the pavement and sidewalks.
Crews were getting creative by shoveling salt out of a box truck to try to more efficiently get salt on those sidewalks. The plows are all gassed up and ready to go for when the snow does start to stick.
Central Massachusetts is expected to still get a few inches of snow.
And the visibility is not great, which has made driving difficult even with the drastically reduced storm total predictions.
"Conditions are always a little dangerous, obviously. But we just do what we got to, go slow, trying to do the best we can, try to stay away from big trucks. And sometimes they go very fast, but you know, we still got to go to work, we still got to do our things," said Carlos Carmona, who's driving to Burlington.
School was canceled in Worcester Tuesday and the winter parking ban went into effect at midnight, so that should help keep with crews being able to clear whatever snow they do get.
