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JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — With several feet of snow expected in the foothills, experts say now is the time to prepare.

“If you have some high branches, it’s a great day outside, you can get out there and clear those branches away from your home,” said Christine Billings, the Jefferson County Emergency Preparedness and Response coordinator.

She says during past storms, branches have broken and roofs have suffered damage.

“Make sure that all of our roofs are ready to go, to withstand what potentially looks to be a very wet snowstorm. Go ahead and install the protective covers over those water faucets,” she said.

Other storms have knocked out power to the area for days, so Billings says now is the time to take action. Make sure to have enough food, water and medications to last 72 hours. Have portable chargers for your devices, and get extra blankets, candles and flashlights ready.

“Certainly power outages are quite common, especially with these heavy, wet spring storms where the branches come down from the trees, or the power lines just happen to be impacted,” she said. 

Billings encourages everyone to sign up for  the “Code Red” emergency alerts on their phones or devices.

LINK: Sign up for JeffCo emergency notifications

Scott Smith is the owner of the Genesee Pub and BBQ. 

“If we lose power then we’ll just have to shut down,” he said.

The restaurant is in an older building, so Smith plans to sleep there Saturday night.

“That’s our bread and butter, so we want to make sure that we do everything we can to possibly mitigate any damage,” Smith said.