LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (KRQE) – Los Alamos County got ready for the upcoming storm by trimming trees. A contractor with the county’s public works department spent Tuesday cutting back branches growing near power lines around 43rd Street and Trinity Drive.

It’s part of a larger effort to reduce danger around power lines. But the county wanted to get more done before the storm hits. “When we have do have a sleet or a rain, we’ll build an ice layer on the branches and that adds weight, and so that is a concern that I look at,” said Stephen Marez, acting deputy utility manager for the Electric Distribution Department.

The county says they focused specifically on trees growing into power lines, not other cables strung between poles.