KSHB 41 News reporter Braden Bates covers parts of Jackson County, Missouri, including Lee's Summit. With winter weather in the forecast Braden spoke with Lee's Summit residents and public works department on preparations. Send Braden a story idea by e-mail.
Lee's Summit residents are stocking up on supplies and city crews are preparing equipment as the city braces for what is expected to be a significant winter storm.
Lee's Summit residents described their preparation mood as "a little antsy."
For Christy Dabalos, snow days aren't always a chilly experience.
"I'm a teacher and we don't have school tomorrow, so that's always the best part of a storm on the horizon," Dabalos said.
Bates caught up with Dabalos at a grocery store as she gathered last-minute food items. She said all day she and her students were feeling the storm.
"I think my students could kind of tell the storm's coming in," she said. (The students) were a little feisty, moving around a little. Excited we may not have school tomorrow and possibly on Monday, and so they’re excited about that."
As she prepared for the storm, Dabalos made her prediction for snowfall totals.
"I feel like it keeps the inches keep climbing, so I think its going to be, I'm going to say eight inches in Lee's Summit," Dabalos said with a laugh.
It was a prediction she thinks is not going to be far off. When asked if she thought Lee's Summit was prepared, she said she is confident the crews will do a good job.
"They’re pretty good," she said. "I mean, we live on a snow route, and so they do a nice job of pre-treating and coming out as soon as they can getting the roads plowed. So we’ll be out and about before too long."
Her confidence is appreciated in the Lee's Summit Public Works Department. They are getting 21 snow plows ready for what could be a challenging storm.
"Bitterly cold and they're talking about a pretty significant amount of snow if we end up in the top end. It's going to take us some time and we ask for patience," said Shawn Graff with the city's Public Works Department.
That patience is important, according to resident Molly Skelsey, because of the number of roads in Lee's Summit.
"I think Lee's Summit has a challenge because we have so many streets here," Skelsey said.
Officials in the Public Works Department acknowledge this concern and spent the days before the storm pretreating roads.
"We have 1,120 lane miles of road we have to plow and treat and it's going to be cold and we're going to be running 24/7," Graff said.
Despite the challenges, the department has a clear goal.
"We're working as hard as we can to get all the streets done. Get everything opened up. Get it where people can starting moving around and get out and about," Graff said.
Graff said there are ways for residents to help out the department, especially as residential neighborhoods already take longer to clear.
"One thing you can do to help us out is to make sure trash carts, cars, basketball goals, anything that obstructs the roadway is out of the way. So when we come through we can do a much better job and we can do it so much faster than weaving in and out of all these obstacles," Graff said.
The Lee's Summit Public Works Department has a map that you can follow along to see where crews are working.
You can find the interactive map here.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
