STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (WXYZ) — Before the snow begins to fall, cities across metro Detroit are declaring snow emergencies.
As of Thursday evening, 15 snow emergencies have been declared in our area that all begin at varying times. We have a list of snow emergencies in Southeast Michigan and metro Detroit.
One of those cities is Sterling Heights.
"With freezing rain and single digits, it's very likely this ice could freeze down to the ground. We may not be able to peel it up, so we may be in for a long one here," said Michael Moore, public works director for the city of Sterling Heights. "We’ll do our best to make sure the roads are safe for travel.”
Moore says the entire department is now focused on snow removal, declaring a snow emergency Thursday afternoon. It goes into effect Friday at 7 p.m.
“We hope we can get this completed by Christmas Day or before, but the snow emergency won't end until every street in the city has been plowed curb to curb and salted,” Moore said. “We’ll probably be stuck on the major roads majority of the day clearing the snow off. And once the major roads are completed and safe for travel, we’ll jump into the neighborhoods.”
In a snow emergency, cars are not allowed to be parked on city streets in order to allow plow trucks to get through and clear the entire road. Violators may be ticketed or towed. The emergency will likely be in effect for Christmas Eve, which could cause issues for larger family gatherings in need of extra parking.
“This is going to be a tough one. We understand it’s Christmas too, but we're going to be doing our best to get the roads clear and safe travel for everybody,” Moore said. "Our plow truck drivers are hard-working folks and they're going to do their best to get down your street.”
Moore said crews in Sterling Heights would likely hit the roads very early Friday morning to treat the roads.
