MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — With an ice storm bearing down on Iowa, people are getting ready.

Marshall County is included in the Ice Storm Warning, and everyone’s stocking up on ice melt to prepare.

At Thompson’s True Value Hardware, there was a steady stream of people wanting to buy one product — ice melt.

“I’ve been very busy, our commercial customers, you know, they generally buy everything a pallet at a time they’ve been in and we serviced all of them,” said Dave Thompson, owner of the store. “The public buys one or two bags at a time. It’s been very brisk there, but we got plenty of product we’ll get everybody taken care of.”

Sidewalks in downtown Marshalltown had ice melt applied this afternoon.

“We typically make our orders in the spring and they’ll pre-pay the freight on 18 pallets, which sounds like a huge amount, but it really isn’t for us,” said Thompson. “If we get ice tomorrow, there will be panic buying, it’ll be like the grocery store with milk and bread.”

So far, the store has had great sales of snowblowers even without any real snow storms so far.

“You know all the forecasters including, you know, TV 13 said our winter is going be colder and snowier than normal,” said Thompson. “The weather forecasters nationwide have said the same thing, and also Farmers Almanac. So, you put them all together, I don’t think they’re going to be wrong.”

“Obviously don’t want anyone falling, so we’re gonna get stocked up, but hopefully it’s enough ice that we’re just closed,” said Tyler Wollam, Marshalltown Dairy Queen Store Owner. He said he hopes his store closes, “no one orders a Blizzard, when it’s an ice storm outside.”