PORT CLINTON, Ohio — Many cities are using social media to reach out to residents and help them prepare for the winter storm, including Port Clinton where Schools are closed for Thursday and Friday.
In a Facebook post, Mayor Mike Snider reflected on his memories of the Blizzard of 1978. While he was only 6 at the time, Snider said there are some commonsense lessons that stick with him to this day that communities can keep in mind for this latest round of winter weather.
“Your neighbors, heck on a knock on their door tonight, see if they're doing OK, if they need any food. They offered a shovel. Just look in on them to make sure that everything's OK,” Snider said.
The mayor’s biggest concern is if residents lose power and he’s reminding anyone who is experiencing an outage to report it as soon as possible.
“If your power goes out, put everybody in one room, put as much clothing on. If you can close the door to try to keep that body heat trapped inside the house,” Snider said. “The more people that that call their local electric provider, the easier it is for them to identify where the problem is.”
It’s also important to make sure you conserve heat. Don’t operate generators or liquid-fueled heaters in your residence as the carbon monoxide they produce may be deadly.
“Turn the water supply on to your home. Keep it, keep it running about the width of a pencil so that that keeps the water flowing in your home to help prevent any freeze-ups and long-lasting issues in the home,” Snider said.
In case of any emergency, Port Clinton’s police, EMS and volunteer fire department will be available to help. The street department has also organized into two 12-hour shifts to plow.
Snider said this will be the longest duration snowstorm for this area in decades.
“This is going to be something where we may run out of space to put the snow and then we need to keep the emergency routes open first. Obviously, get to the side streets as soon as we can.”
Snider also said he’s concerned with the city’s proximity to Lake Erie. He will be watching for any ice hazards and shoreline flooding that could also cause issues for residents.
“We've had some issues the past couple of summers with high water. And we're hoping that we don't get a repeat of that with high ice,” Snider said.
A snow emergency and parking ban went into effect at 8 a.m. Thursday morning. Residents are urged to move their car or face a ticket or be towed.
RELATED: Winter Storm Day 1: Rain transitions to ice during evening commute on Wednesday
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