UPPER FREEHOLD: Two township workers hurt in storm-related crash

Flooding in municipal building prompts offices to relocate

By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
   UPPER FREEHOLD — Two Public Works employees dispatched during last weekend’s hurricane to put up barricades on a flooded road were injured after their truck crashed on Route 524 and struck a utility pole, township officials said.
   Mayor LoriSue Mount said Monday that one man remains hospitalized in stable condition, and the other has been released.
   State police said the accident occurred at 1:14 a.m. Aug. 28 when the Ford F-250 pickup truck went through a flooded area on Route 524.
   ”We got a call from the (Hope) Fire Company saying we need Public Works to put up barricades on Sharon Station Road,” said Bill Wentzien, the coordinator of Upper Freehold Township’s Emergency Operations Center. “The next thing I know I got a call saying, ‘Bill we’re going to need an ambulance.”
   Mr. Wentzien said the men had been dispatched to set up barricades to keep motorists out of a flooded section of Sharon Station Road between Herbert Road and Route 524. The crash happened on Route 524 where flooding was also occurring.
   ”The road was flooded, but it’s hard to see that in that dark,” Mr. Wentzien said.
   Mr. Wentzien would not release the names of the two men hurt in the accident, but state police identified them as Daniel Golden, of New Egypt, and Saverio Fiorezo, of Upper Freehold. Both were transported to Capital Health Regional Medical Center (formerly Helene Fuld) in Trenton, state police said.
   Staff at Capital Health Regional Medical Center would not release the name of the man who was still hospitalized or any information about his condition.
   There was also flooding inside basement offices in the Upper Freehold Municipal Building on Route 539 that affected the Emergency Operations Center, the finance office and the tax assessor’s office, Mr. Wentzien said. He described the flooding as “a couple of inches of water on the floor.”
   Deputy Mayor Bob Faber said the contents of the affected basement offices had to be moved into the township building next door and dehumidifiers have been running in the municipal building’s basement.
   ”There was just so much water around the building’s foundation during the storm that the sump pump couldn’t handle it all,” Mr. Faber said Saturday. “I was over there yesterday and everything is getting dried out now.”
   The storm also felled trees and downed utility lines, knocking out power to hundreds of residents for days. Homes on Stone Tavern Road (Route 524) were among the last to get power restored at about 3 p.m. on Sept. 1, four days after the storm ended, Mr. Wentzien said.
   Even though the power was back for most Upper Freehold Township residents, Internet service was still disrupted in some areas of the township, including the municipal building, Mr. Wentzien said Friday.
   While scores of township residences had flooded basements, Mr. Wentzien said there was only one home that he was aware of that sustained major structural damage. Floodwaters “pushed in a foundation wall in the basement” of a ranch home on Route 526, he said.
   ”The water flooded right up to the first floor level,” Mr. Wentzien said. “It’s uninhabitable now.”
   More than half dozen township roads have also sustained some type of damage, such as sinkholes or erosion. These include: Arneytown-Hornerstown Road; Hutchinson Road; Walnford Road; the decking of the Walnford bridge (“damaged, but passable”); Ellisdale Road; Breza Road; Province Line Road by the iron bridge; Hill Road; and Jonathan Holmes Road and Meirs Road, Mr. Wentzien said.
   The total dollar amount of public property damage was not immediately available.
   Mr. Wentzien said the Allentown First Aid Squad building served as a shelter for several local families during the height of the storm, in addition to a few shore evacuees from Seaside Heights.
   ”We had 16 people and three dogs in the First Aid Squad building,” Mr. Wentzien said.
   First Aid Squad Capt. Janeann Barlow fed them all pancakes in the morning before they left, he said. For the children in the shelter she made chocolate-chip pancakes, he said.
   Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were scheduled to arrive over the holiday weekend to inspect flooding damage in Upper Freehold and Plumsted townships, municipal officials in those communities said.
    On Sunday, the governor’s office announced that all 21 counties have now been approved for both individual and public assistance by FEMA.
    Individual assistance allows residents and small businesses to apply for different types of federal assistance including temporary housing, repairs, replacement or other needs such as Disaster Unemployment Assistance and Small Business Administration disaster loans. Public assistance allows eligible local governments and certain nonprofits to apply for federal funding for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by Hurricane Irene.