HILLSBOROUGH: No word on when electricity will be restored

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor

Hillsborough Township officials declared themselves in a recovery mode from Hurricane Sandy late Tuesday afternoon, but township emergency management officials had no word when electrical service would be revived to most of the township.

People speculated how many days, not hours, it would be before anything approaching “normal” service would be restored.

Like most of central Jersey, Hillsborough was thrust into the dark Monday night by Sandy’s high winds. Gusts up to 75 mph snapped utility poles and brought trees and branches down wires; both combined to darken most of the township.

“It’s easily going to be days, without a doubt,” at least through the weekend, said Mayor Carl Suraci late Tuesday afternoon.

In a dark municipal building late Wednesday afternoon, working with a flashlight on his desk, Township Anthony Ferrera said they still didn’t know when to expect power.

Utilities were concentrating on regional substations and larger overall challenges before they moved out into residential areas, officials said they were told.

Hillsborough schools, which were shut Monday through Thursday, and probably would be closed Friday, revised its schedule for next week.

Superintendent Jorden Schiff said the school will be open for classes on Monday and Wednesday, Nov. 5 and 7, while remaining closed to students, but open for a staff development day, on Election Day on Tuesday.

Board Secretary Aiman Mahmoud said Tuesday morning that eight of nine school buildings were without electricity. Only Auten Road Intermediate School had it...

For the first time, the township set up a mobile hospital at St. Mary’s Byzantine Church on Brooks Boulevard near the Manville boundary. It became necessary, too; officials reported the birth of a baby girl to Hillsborough parents.

Mr. Ferrera said Hillsborough prided itself on remaining as self-sufficient as possible in emergencies, and that a hospital was only missing element.

OEM Coordinator John Sheridan credited rescue squad leader Dave Gwinn for arranging the hospital, with an emergency room in the gym and a small operating room in an expanded trailer, through the state EMS task force.

Police Chief Paul Kaminsky said in recent previous storm it was becoming more difficult to reach Somerville Medical Center in Somerville, and rescue squad tended to go to Princeton Medical Center. With the hospital’s move out Princeton and into Plainsboro, that became more uncertain, he said.

The township was opening its brush dropoff site on Auten Road Thursday through Saturday for people wishing to dispose of leaves and branches

On Tuesday, after the wind and rain stopped, convenience stores experienced a land-rush business. Customers with hands full of coffee, sandwiches and snacks had to have cash, however; credit and debit card connections couldn’t be made without electricity. People used ATMs in stores, if they were open, or turned on their heel and left.

Power service was spotty on the township. Chief Paul Kaminsky said generally the area north of Triangle Road was better served than the most of the township.

For instance, at Nelson’s Corner shopping center, the ShopRite supermarket on the east wing was closed but stores on the southerly side of the plaza were open. NEC Liquor, next door to the supermarket, was open but a sign outside read “out of ice.”

Starting Tuesday morning, lines and queues of cars grew around open gasoline stations – not so much for gasoline but for fuel to run generators. At about noon Tuesday, more than 50 people holding one or more red containers stood in line at the Quick Chek at Opie Road and Route 206. Cars parked on both sides of the road clogged traffic. S

BBBy Wednesday, the quantity of fuel at gas stations was also becoming a worry, with deliveries questionable.

The township’s shelter in the Biondi municipal complex had no customers Monday night. Only CERT volunteers, staying all night to monitor the shelter, made use of the dozen or so cots.

“We were telling ghost stories in the dark with our flashlights,” said one volunteer,

Throughout Tuesday, people meandered in, but more to charge a cellular phone or computer than to seek shelter.

Volunteer fire fighters, some dressed in response gear, waited at the firehouse on Route 206. Fire Company No. 2 Chief Bruce Vatter said next time he’ll add “gasoline” to “batteries, food and water” to the pre-storm warning on the digital message board in front of the station.

He warned people to place the generator outside the house to minimize the risk of carbon monoxide sickening people. He said people may put generators in garages and lower the doors to within a foot of the ground. That’s not good enough, he said.

Another of his worries, he said, was the repercussions of electricity suddenly coming back in homes, particularly if they were unoccupied. Unattended appliances suddenly revived potentially could cause problems, he said.

Trees had reportedly fallen on at eight, and probably at least 12, houses Tuesday, said OEM Chief John Sheridan.

Candidates’ Night, originally scheduled for Monday, was moved to Friday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. in the Auten Road Intermediate School cafeteria.

All five candidates for Township Committee – Greg Burchette, Jim Farley, Mike Goldberg, Judd Mandell, and Carl Suraci – had agreed to participate. The Candidates’ Night is sponsored and organized by students.

The intention was to broadcast the video of Candidates’ Night on Channel 27 and the school district website on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 5 and 6.

 

Hillsborough and Manville knew what to expect from a lot of rain following the Hurricane Irene storms of August 2011, which brought swelling Raritan and Millstone rivers, and smaller creeks, over their banks.

But winds of up to 75 mph added a new dimension.

With the rain stopped and the winds calmed, people ventured out, only to find barricaded roads blocking their normal routes. Crossing or left turns were prevented, particularly on main roads, which left meandering motorists making U-turns to reach a specific destination.

Late Tuesday, Chief Kaminsky said 17 township traffic signals were not working, and at 2 p.m. 36 roads were closed.

Trees were uprooted and branches had fallen across the town ship, with the Michelle Lane area. DPW Director Buck Sixth said a row trees leaned out over a portion of Woods Road. At Woods and Amwell roads, a light pole that had snapped lay – with lines disconnected — in the intersection at mid-afternoon Tuesday.

In Friday’s township’s e-mail newsletter, which goes to 4,000 accounts, Mayor Carl Suraci urged all Hillsborough residents to prepare for the approaching storm “and to keep in mind that being prepared is the key to safety in any emergency situation.”

He urged all residents to be “calm, informed and prepared” for the expected heavy rains, flooding, impassable roads, downed trees, high winds and power outages.