For the residents of Mariners Cove, the memories of Hurricane Irene are still fresh one year later. The ones that remain from the most affected areas remember being rescued by boats from their houses in the cul-de-sac before coming home to houses damaged by water, mud and debris the storm and the Manasquan River whipped around. In the wake of the storm several high profile officials including Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Rep. Chris Smith came to the neighborhood as well as representatives from FEMA and the township and county governments. Since the storm many of the residents in the most …
Hurricane Irene would have been the first hurricane to make landfall in New Jersey in more than a century, had it actually been packing hurricane-strength winds at the time. But by the time Irene rolled ashore at Little Egg Inlet in southern Ocean County, its wind speed had already decreased to 69 m.p.h. – a full 5 m.p.h. short of hurricane strength – meaning it was actually just a tropical storm. The new findings were released Dec. 14 by the National Hurricane Center, the latest of equivalent post-mortems the agency has posted on every other storm of the 2011 hurricane season. Every year, …
On Wednesday morning residents of Mariners Cove were given some assurances that more help was on the way by Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno. She was joined on the tour by a representative from FEMA as well as members of the township council. The development was hit not only by Hurricane Irene, but also a rain storm the week before that left several houses severely damaged as a result. Guadango, a former Monmouth County Sherriff said that as a resident of Monmouth Beach she expects the possibility of flooding with a big storm, but that is not expected in more of an inland town like Howell. Walking …
Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) was brought under scrutiny Monday at the state Board of Public Utilities Hearing at Monmouth County Library headquarters in Manalapan. JCP&L customers from throughout the area came out to criticize the power company’s job after Hurricane Irene struck New Jersey in late August. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities held the hearing, with a second hearing scheduled for today in Morris Plains, to gather evidence against the company in an attempt to rectify why JCP&L allegedly performed so poorly after the hurricane. Board of Public Utilities President Lee …
Monmouth and Ocean county residents in need of governmental assistance as they recover from Hurricane Irene will be able to get face-to-face help starting this week. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) opened a Disaster Recovery Center this weekend in the Leonardo section of Middletown for Monmouth County residents and will open a center in Brick for Ocean residents Tuesday. Field specialists will be on hand to assist residents and business owners who wonder if they qualify for federal funds after sustaining damage during the hurricane. Millions of dollars are available through the…
As the cleanup from Hurricane Irene continues in some of the hardest hit parts of the state, the Howell Police Department is reminding residents to be mindful when dealing with FEMA inspectors. There was a report, according to Detective Sgt. Eileen Dodd of the Howell Police Department of a woman in the Moors Landing development claiming to be from FEMA. The woman also reportedly asked for donations raising questions about her legitimacy. Dodd said registered inspectors will have identification ones like the ones included in this article that residents should ask for. When dealing with FEMA …
Governor Chris Christie on Tuesday urged those impacted by Hurricane Irene to seek help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency - and Neptune will serve as FEMA's hub site for New Jersey. Beginning Wednesday, the Joint Field Office in Neptune will serve as the field office for all federal and New Jersey Office of Emergency Management relief efforts throughout the state. "Representatives from the departments will be located here to ensure that we're all working together, officially and effectively, in a coordinated manner to get assistance to folks as quickly as possible," he said. …
After touring two northern New Jersey towns ravaged by Hurricane Irene, President Barack Obama assured residents Sunday that the federal government will help them rebuild. "We are going to make sure we provide the resources needed," Obama said while touring Paterson, a city of roughly 150,000 that witnessed severe flooding during Irene because of its proximity to the Passaic River. "I want to make it very clear we are going to meet our federal obligations." Obama visited Paterson and Wayne for an hour-and-a-half with a delegation that included Gov. Chris Christie, U.S. Senators Frank …
In the wake of the impact of Hurricane Irene, Howell Township and the rest of Monmouth County were included in a declaration of a major disaster signed by President Barack Obama. An email from the mayor and council to residents on Sunday morning announced that the funding will help both the township and its residents rebuild from the most powerful storm to hit the area in recent memory with mony from FEMA. According to Bill Vogel, FEMA's Coordinating Officer, the township will receive both public assistance as well as individual assistance. The public money goes to "government entities and …
President Barack Obama has declared Monmouth County a major disaster area. Congressman Frank Pallone, D-6, said he was notified of President Obama's decision on Saturday. Obama also declared Middlesex County a major disaster area. Sixteen New Jersey counties are now eligible for possible relief from FEMA: Atlantic, Bergen, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Essex, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic, Salem, Somerset, Sussex, and Warren. Gov. Chris Christie previously requested assistance for all 21 New Jersey counties, but damage assessments need to be concluded before …
With Howell schools expected to open on Wednesday, the Board of Education and the administration is reaching out to residents who were forced out of their homes as a result of Hurricane Irene. According to an email sent out on Saturday, the district may be able to help them get their children back into their regular Howell Schools with the help of the Stewart B. McKinney-Vento Education of Homeless Children and Youth Program. Those families interested can find out more information by going to this link on the district's website. In addition, residents can call Assistant Superintendent for …
The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs is warning residents to beware of shady businesses and vendors showing up in the wake of Hurricane Irene. Neal Buccino, a spokesman with the division, said there already have been 46 reports of price gouging since the storm — on items including bottled water, gasoline and hotel rooms. He said there's been no reports of home repair or charity scams yet. Buccino said his division has investigated 23 of the cases and none had broken the law, but the investigation is continuing, "While they have found some high prices … the cases we've fully …
As a further sign that the cleanup from Hurricane Irene is continuing, JCP&L reported just three residents of Howell without power on Saturday morning. That number is a far cry from where the power grid was just a week ago. Now there are more efforts being undertaken town-wide to bring things back to where they were before the worst storm in recent memory hit. The news on power was better throughout the area as just under 2800 residents were reporting outages throughout Monmouth County. That includes 95 in Freehold and 179 in Wall. Middletown remains the hardest hit with 357 residents still …
Ocean and Monmouth counties may be eligible for disaster aid as Federal Emergency Management Agency officials work to assess damage that is still impacting thousands of residents almost a full week after Hurricane Irene stormed New Jersey. Individual residents also will be able to register to receive aid for a variety of losses regardless of whether they carry a private insurance policy. But such FEMA monies only are available as of Friday to residents of Bergen, Essex, Morris, Passaic and Somerset counties, per a federal disaster declaration made earlier this week. While the Shore continues…
Over the years students from Howell, volunteering as members of the Police Athletic League have travelled all over the country to help those in need. This week the students provided help closer to home than many of them likely ever expected to. This past Saturday they were among the volunteers helping to load and deliver sand bags before the arrival of Hurricane Irene. On Friday, with school just around the corner the middle school and high school students were at the cul-de-sac of Mariners Cove helping residents clean out their house not only from Irene, but from flooding the week before …
The start of the holiday weekend appears to be marking the end of the power outages brought on by Hurricane Irene. According to JCP&L's website, there are just 12 outages reported across Howell on the Friday of Labor Day Weekend. At one point there were at least 10000 people reported to be without power, but that number has dropped on an almost daily basis. Just yesterday there were 114 outages reported in Howell which was a big drop from the more than 2000 outages reported on Wednesday. For the most part, the news is better throughout the Monmouth and Ocean county areas. Freehold still has…
On almost any other year, the focus around the Jersey Shore region this week would be on getting ready for the Labor Day Weekend. And while there is still a significant amount of excitement for the end of summer festivities, there is still a lot of work to be done to clean up from Hurricane Irene. According to AAA, before Hurricane Irene arrived last weekend more than 950 thousand people were expected to travel to our area. It is not known how many of those people will change their plans based on the damage done here and other parts of the state. "Now that we have said goodbye to Irene, more …
Monmouth County Health Department inspectors have been busy visiting restaurants and grocery stores that lost power or sustained damage during Hurricane Irene, according to Monmouth County Public Health Coordinator Michael Meddis. “I haven’t seen an inspector in two days. They’ve been out constantly,” he said. The department is responsible for assessing conditions at food establishments in 23 Monmouth County towns. The Monmouth Regional Health Department and five municipal health departments in Colts Neck, Freehold Township, Long Branch, Middletown and Manalapan oversee businesses in the rest…
For the past few days, the number of Howell residents reported to be without power has been in the thousands and even as high as 10000. But according to JCP&L, that number is coming down rapidly as the holiday weekend approaches. As of 8 a.m. on Thursday morning there were just 114 outages reported in the township which is a drastic improvement over the more than 2000 outages reported yesterday. The conditions in Howell are also far better than some of the neighboring towns, including Freehold where there are still just shy of 2000 people without power. The situation is similar in the …
Work around town has continued to bring Howell residents back on to the power grid and on Wednesday morning JCP&L reported more progress was made in those efforts. As of 11:30 Wednesday morning the utility was reporting slightly more than 2000 residents still without power. Yesterday, an email from the mayor and council reported that more than 5000 people were without power, many of them since Saturday night. "We know with certainty that JCP&L are working around the clock trying to restore all areas," the email said. For those residents who have been without power for more than 24 hours …
