VINITA, Okla. — On a bright, sunny President's Day Monday, a scramble started in Craig County to get ahead of a storm anticipated to hit Tuesday, Feb. 18th.
By three in the afternoon, most school districts in the county had decided to close on Tuesday and wait to see how much snow and ice piled up before deciding when classes should resume.
At Vinita Public Schools, Superintendent Gabe Schmidt tells 2 News the safety of students and staff is paramount. "The storm's gonna come right about the time school starts tomorrow. If the forecast holds it's just gonna pile up."
He is also concerned the district's buses and buildings weather the storm.
"We're checking spaces to raise ceiling tiles and adjusting thermostats, making sure cabinet doors are open where there's water, especially along the walls and those spaces to avoid pipes freezing."
Out on the bus lot, Micah Koons with the district's transportation department is taking extra precautions to make sure once classes resume the district's diesel buses will be in top shape to take kids to and from school in freezing conditions.
"We have to take precautions to try to make sure they don't gel up," said Koons, "that the diesel doesn't gel up so we put additive in all the tanks."
Across town at the Vinita Streets Department, President's Day turned into preparation day ahead of the storm.
"We never know what we're gonna get," said Vinita Streets Commissioner James Tracy. "We're prepared for the worst. Um, we've got all our plow trucks, our graters, our salt and sand spreaders loaded and ready to go. Everything's fueled up and at this point, we're just waiting to see what we get."
Oklahoma Department of Transportation crews in Craig County also spent time putting scraper blades on trucks and loading up with sand and salt. Its crews plan to come in at midnight to begin monitoring highway routes. Once snow and or ice begins to build up they will sand, salt and scrape.
They're also grateful that some material from last week's snow is still on the roadways, which will help them get a leg up on treating highways this time around.
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