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Central Indiana braces for winter storm

Winter storm arriving in hours in north central Indiana

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — People living in the Indianapolis metropolitan area are bracing for one of the worst storms of the season.

Emergency management officials in Hamilton County on Tuesday night were in the final hours of preparations ahead the storm’s arrival Wednesday afternoon.

Shane Booker, the executive director of Hamilton County Emergency Management, says they expect to issue travel advisories around 1 p.m. Wednesday and urge people to take precautions.

Booker says his team will have their eyes to the sky and on the streets. “It really is one of the major storms of the season.”

He says to keep a watchful eye. His crews will not only be out and about, but also monitoring nearly 50 cameras around the county. He says they will have emergency crews on standby.

“Some of the challenges that we’ll be looking at is just making sure that people slow down and communicating the travel advisory issues we see and then also making sure that we’re getting the message out and trying to get people to be take the time and be prepared before the storm,” Booker said.

Storm Track 8 meteorologist Marcus Bailey says the timing of this storm could be a major issue.

“The Wednesday evening commute is probably going to be tricky, whether it’s rain or snow, and the Thursday morning commute is going to be tricky for everybody because it’s going to be cold enough everywhere that we will have some leftover snow showers across the state,” Bailey said.

Booker says with the winter weather hitting during two rush hours, this storm isn’t one to brush off.

“It’s really important that people take the time to make sure your vehicles are filled up with gas. Check the air pressure. A lot of people don’t realize that that can create a lot of problems. Make sure you have an emergency kit in your car and stay off the roads if you can,” Booker said.

The emergency management director says his agency is expecting emergency phone lines to be busy. He urges people who get in a fender-bender with no serious injuries to call the non-emergency line if the county has one.

In Indianapolis, the Department of Public Works says it will have 80 snow trucks pretreating roads beginning Wednesday morning.