MANSFIELD: Township ponders Hurricane Sandy response

By David Kilby, Special Writer
   MANSFIELD — Three weeks ago, many residents remained without power a few days after Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey with historic wind gusts and a massive storm surge against the coast.
   Sandy tested Mansfield’s ability to respond to dangerous storms, and for the most part, residents were satisfied with the efforts made by Doug Borgstrom, municipal emergency coordinator, his team and the township’s police and fire departments.
   Mr. Borgstrom told the Mansfield Township Committee on Nov. 15 that there were 60 to 70 responses from the Fire Department for wires and trees that were down.
   Like most of the towns in the area, power wasn’t restored throughout the township until a week after the hurricane, but all primary roads were open by Tuesday, Oct. 30, Mr. Borgstrom said. Superstorm Sandy made landfall 8 p.m. Oct. 29, 5 miles shy of Atlantic City.
   He said it was a “pretty well-managed event” despite the county losing complete communications.
   ”We were pretty much on our own,” he said.
   He also said the township didn’t use the reverse 911 system because when used in past emergencies, about 40 percent of residents didn’t get the call. But in the future, the township will use the system and as a supplemental measure will tell residents to inform their neighbors just in case they didn’t get the call.
   ”The media did a good job saying the storm was coming,” Mr. Borgstrom said. “People still didn’t prepare.”
   In the future, if the township should need shelters in town, the township does have prearranged agreements to use district schools as shelters, but the county asks for municipalities to use the county shelters first.
   ”The (county’s) Fountain of Life shelter (in Florence Township) is able to handle anyone,” he said.
   Mr. Borgstrom also thanked township employees for being “phenomenal” in their response efforts before, during and after the storm.
   He also said the township will get partially reimbursed by the county and state for any storm-related expenses incurred.
   ”We’re learning as we go,” he said regarding the township’s method of responding to dangerous storms like Sandy. “I think we’re making improvements every time.”
   After Mr. Borgstrom gave his recap of the storm management and response efforts, Mayor Arthur Puglia thanked him, the firemen and policemen for doing such a great job, and many people in the public applauded all those who helped out in the storm as well.
   Committeeman Alfred Clark said that, during the storm, a cherry tree fell in his driveway, and Mr. Borgstrom’s crew was there immediately to remove it.
   Linda Semus, township clerk, thanked resident Colleen Herbert for getting out information on the storm as quickly as possible.
   ”You gotta love social media,” Ms. Herbert said, adding that whenever she heard of damage from the storm, she was able to transmit the information quickly to Mr. Borgstrom through her smartphone. “I can’t say enough about this township and how they dealt with this (storm). You kept us informed. Thank you for keeping us safe.”
   Mr. Borgstrom added it was a “completely cellular operation.”