Township Working with County, State, Federal Officials to Help Residents

While residents around the township move on from the impact of Hurricane Irene, the mayor and council as well as the administration are working to bring whatever aid they can to Howell. 

Deputy Mayor William Gotto said the process of assessing the damage caused by the storm is continuing through Tuesday as they see what can be done to help the citizens. "We have a pretty good idea of what's going on," he said of the work so far. 

One area where the township cannot provide a lot of help to residents is restoring power to those who have not had it since Saturday night. "We do not have a direct connection to JCP&L," he said. "Because of the severity of the storm every contact that we have is either unavailable or their mailboxes are full. Most of our information is coming from the residents themselves." 

From what the township has heard from the utility, Gotto said they know about wires being down on Brickyard Rd. He also said JCP&L told them that Route 9 was their area of primary concern and now that that has been taken care of they can move on to other areas. Residents with questions about their electrical services are encouraged to call 1-800-545-7738.

As of 7:30 on Tuesday night, JCP&L is reporting more than 4900 residents in town are still without power. For those residents who have been without power for more than 12 hours, JCP&L is providing free ice and water at the Acme on Route 9 in Freehold. To get the free ice and water residents need to provide identification and a copy of a recent electric bill, Gotto said. 

Another complaint residents have aired to the township is downed trees that are falling on or near their property. Gotto said the those trees that have been downed but not cleared tend to have live wires tangled in them. Gotto said as long as the wires are in the tree they pose less of a danger to the residents. "Any tree that remains on the road was visually inspected," he said. "We made the decision to leave those trees in the roadway so the wires would not become exposed and people would not try and touch them. 

While a considerable amount of work has been done in the few days since the storm, Gotto said there are still several roads that are out of commission. They include Fort Plains Rd. near Sunnyside and the Jackson border. Hulses Corner road and Church Road by the Jackson border are also closed. Other closed roads include Georgia Tavern Road Between West Farms Road and Casino Road as well as Southard Ave. near the Manasquan River. 

The roads near the Jackson border present several challenges to getting them back in working order. Not only do they border two towns, but also two counties which complicates getting the services needed to those areas. 

Residents are facing the question of what to do with the broken trees and branches that have fallen in their yards as well as bulk items that have been destroyed by the storm. The recycling center will be open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. for residents who can deliver the items to the site.

Gotto said one of the biggest complaints he and the other members of the administration have gotten is that there has been no schedule on when their bulk items will be picked up. "Bulk pickup right now really is not the priority," he said. "Doing what we can to get federal reimbursement so people have a place to sleep at night, that's where we're putting the bulk of our efforts." Members of the public are being asked to be patient with the township as they work to put all the pieces together again. "This is not a local issue anymore. this is a federal, state and county effort."

Working with officials at the county and state level, Gotto said efforts have extended all the way to Rep. Chris Smith as they work to get federal aid from FEMA as part of a federal disaster area. He said in the next few days places known as "pod sites," will be established around the county to help people apply for federal aid from the damage incurred. 

The township had applied for aid to help with repair efforts from last week's storm including the Moors Landing development. Those efforts, Gotto said will be helped by the hurricane. "The second storm now qualifies it as a recurring event," he said. 

Trying to conserve their resources, Gotto said the township is working to do as much work as possible while still staying within its means. While a normal bulk pickup day has 20 stops, Gotto said on Tuesday alone the township had 90 calls for pickups that they could not get to all of them. "If we have to incur expenses for traffic safety and having vacant neighborhoods patrolled with our police department as opposed to picking up people's discarded items we have to provide for the safety of the people first."

Gotto said in talking to citizens, they have said this was the worst storm the town has seen in recent memory. Even with that, not all the parts of the town were damaged in the same ways. "People in the southern half, south of 195, the damage was sporadic. It wasn't entire neighborhoods that were affected," he said "On the northern side of town it was catastrophic. Anything near the Manasquan that crossed any roads, those neighborhoods that were near there was catastrophic damage." 

While the Emergency Operations Center is no longer active, Gotto said there are still resources available to residents who need help following the storm. The Office of Emergency Management can be reached by calling the township offices and reaching extension 2906. The Department of Public Works can be reached at extension 2450.