NM officials brace for the storm

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The New Mexico Department of Homeland Security says “now is the time” when talking about preparing for the winter storm barreling towards the state.

State officials are making preparations for a storm that New Mexico has not seen in about a year and they are urging New Mexicans to do the same.

Several state agencies including the National Guard, State Police and the Department of Transportation are meeting to get all hands on deck.

They will be monitoring the pending storm ready to activate some muscle if things get nasty.

The big concern will be road closures and power outages due to falling limbs from strong winds.

State police and DOT crews already have people set to work overtime. The National Guard has not been activated, but they are ready if it comes to that.

Most of the resources will be dedicated to the roads.

"If you don't have to travel don't travel cause we do anticipate road closures if pans as out as you predict, and the other piece is making sure they are ready for any type of power outages,” Michael Duvall with the Department of Homeland Security said.

As far as power outages, the focus would be on electricity lost from falling tree limbs and not so much gas problems as we saw last year. With that said both PNM and NM Gas Co. will have crews on hang to expect the worst.

There are no delays due to weather at the Albuquerque Sunport, but a spokesperson there says there are weather delays in Newark, Las Vegas and Phoenix impacting some flights, so call ahead.