Snow impacts Rhode Island roads, businesses

February 5, 2016 6:24 pm

By Ana Bottary

abottary@abc6.com

@anabottary

The snowy conditions Friday created roadway nightmares for many places in Rhode island, especially in Coventry.

"When I hit the avenue they were pretty rough, it was pretty scary," says one driver.

Police say they responded to over a dozen down trees. We saw some of the damage first first hand, including one on Flat River Road where a tree fell onto a utility pole, knocking it down. Due to stormy conditions, National Grid reported over 2,000 homes without power in the Coventry area by Friday afternoon.

The miserable weather kept people indoors, which is bad news for local businesses.

"Nobody wants to come out, it’s too cold. The roads slippery," says Amytixia Zarokostas, Owner of the Gentelman Farmer restaurant.

She says these empty seats are usually filled at this time, but the normal lunch crowd stayed off the roads. Just down the road at the Guitar Studio, owner Matthew Kearns fills some time playing guitar, after 50 percent of his students canceled.

"Oh it’s not good for lessons at all. Most people will stay home and hunker down a little bit. Once it gets going I’d say we loose about half, and then if it is really bad we loose all of them," says Kearns.

With a clearer day forecast for Saturday, the businesses are hoping to gain back their normal crowds.