NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Tri-State Area officials and residents are getting ready, bracing for the potentially major Nor’easter on its way.
The frigid temperatures are creating a lot of business for one plant nursery in Harlem. Firewood shelves have been left empty at Urban Garden Center on 117th Street, where they say they’ve sold over 900 bundles of wood just this week.
They’re now completely sold out of firewood and are waiting on their next shipment.
The plant nursery says it’s been swamped with calls from people in the Tri-State Area placing orders for wood ahead of the winter storm. They say they have not seen this kind of business since Christmas.
“If it wasn’t cold, we wouldn’t be making anything,” Alex Gatanas, a partner at Urban Garden Center, said.
TIMELINE: Tracking The Nor’easter In New York, New Jersey And Connecticut
Gatanas says the majority of their customers are in Manhattan and Brooklyn, but lately, they have had a lot of people coming from Long Island and Westchester.
“We just keep on selling firewood as fast as it comes in,” he said. “Because of availability of wood, there’s been a little bit of a shortage. I guess maybe they weren’t able to cut down as many trees as they needed to in places.”
Places like Nassau County are also preparing for the storm.
Mountains of salt were piling up inside the Department of Public Works garage Saturday.
Local officials are getting supplies, gear and trucks ready, anticipating what could be heading our way.
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“We are expecting blizzard-like conditions with wind gusts of up to 55 miles per hour,” Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said. “We are hearing from our experts that it could be anywhere between 6 to 12 inches, and we are expecting more accumulation down on the South Shore.”
That kind of snow storm signals the importance of taking precautions – to protect you and road crews out working.
“I know that you hear us say this every single storm to please stay off the roads, and this time it is really important,” Curran said. “For the sake of all the crews out there, whether they’re town, village, county or state, please stay off the roads as much as you possibly can.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has also directed state agencies to get more than 1,600 snowplows and over 300 front-end loaders ready to roll out once the storm hits.
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