By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Manville emergency management officials huddled Monday morning and were told they would have to prepare for door-to-door warnings to evacuate, if Hurricane Sandy got particularly bad later in the day.
“We’ll play it like a ball game. It’ll be over when it’s over,” said Ken Otrimski, the emergency management director.
There was a sense of everyone knowing their job — unfortunately from having done this work before. Manville was flooded by eight inches of rain that fell in six hours during Hurricane Irene in 2011, and 14 inches in 12 hours from Tropical Storm Floyd in 1999.
“We’ve been through this routine before and we’ll get through it again,” said Mayor Angelo Corradino.
Mr. Otrimski said he also wanted to check his database of any homes that depended on electricity for oxygen units, ventilators, respirators and other health equipment.
The borough was prepared to send messages through a reverse 9-1-1 alert system that would send messages to every phone in the borough, said the mayor.
The Red Cross shelter in the VFW on Washington Avenue was scheduled to open if flooding hit, but Mayor Corradino said the borough would open it as necessary, and worry about the cost later.
“If somebody feels safer in a shelter, we’ll do it,” he said.
The VFW had set up to accommodate 118 cots initially, it was reported. Councilwoman Sherri Lynn said the temporary animal shelter would be open at the high school, like it had been during Hurricane Irene in 2011.
A crew of firefighters reported for duty at 3 a.m. Monday, and shifts will change in the next days.
As of 10 a.m. no roads had been blocked off. Two traffic lights were disabled by Somerset County crews and replaced with stop signs. Those are at Kennedy Boulevard and Main, and Roosevelt Boulevard and Main. The mayor said the county removed the sensitive equipment knowing it had been destroyed by rising flood waters of Royce Brook in the August 2011 storm.
The Community Emergency Response Team would be called upon if high winds fell on many power lines and there was a need to block streets, or to issue door-to-door warnings.
If an entire area, like Lost Valley, were evacuated, PSE&G crews were prepared to cut off electrical service at the curb to minimize fire possibility.
The mayor said emergency meetings had been held since last Wednesday, with a full team meeting on Friday. On Saturday fire, police and OEM officials met, he said.
Police Chief Mark Peltack said he had received a call from Home Depot offering anything the borough might need.
Schools were closed Monday and will continue to be closed Tuesday. In bad weather conditions, the Manville school district will communicate through Alert Now, its website and the new digital sign erected on the lawn of the high school on Brooks Boulevard.
Manville canceled pickup of Monday’s municipal waste and Tuesday’s bulk items. Notification will be made when these pickups are rescheduled.
Wind could be the added element in any storm expected to sweep through central New Jersey and the entire middle Atlantic states through Tuesday.
The borough website, which carries bulletins, is manvillenj.org. The Manville Police Department website is www.manvillepd.org.

