'No Salt': False online claims spark rush at Philadelphia salt yard
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Residents continued showing up to the city's salt storage facility on Parkside Avenue for hours on Saturday night after false social media posts claimed Philadelphia was giving away free salt at the location.
A Streets Department truck and barricades were positioned at the entrance, along with signs reading "No Salt," as workers turned people away.
The department issued a notice on social media saying the city was not distributing salt and that it had been made aware of "misinformed" posts circulating online.
"The stores were too expensive, so when I saw free salt, I was on the way to come get it!" said Tameka W. of Southwest Philadelphia.
She said she was "very disappointed, because I've been driving around and finally found a place."
The rush for salt came as hardware stores and other retailers across the city saw supplies dwindle ahead of the winter storm.
At Fairmount Hardware, pallets stacked with ice melt in the morning were gone by the end of the day.
"This is what's left of it. Just swept up," owner Andy Siegel said at closing time. He noted that his shop had prepared for the surge. "We put away a lot just in preparation for big storms like this."
In South Philadelphia, Bella Vista Beer Distributors drew customers in with a sign advertising both "beer and rock salt," offering a chance to knock out two errands at once.
"The salt's sold out everywhere else and the sign said...
'No Salt': False online claims spark rush at Philadelphia salt yard PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Residents continued showing up to the city's salt storage facility on Parkside Avenue for hours on Saturd...