By David Kilby, Special Writer
EAST WINDSOR — Almost seven weeks after Hurricane Sandy, the township still is tallying the storm-related costs and damages.
Additionally, the municipality is undertaking an ongoing effort to clean up the debris and branches scattered around town by the superstorm.
Mayor Janice Mironov said the township is “still in the process of assembling, reviewing and finalizing all storm-related costs.”
She said the costs for the storm were mostly from manpower, especially in Public Works as well as police, along with costs related to equipment usage and fuel, but added she doesn’t have a final tally.
”We’ll be submitting our information to FEMA and expecting to be reimbursed for the large part,” she said, adding $55,000 has been made available in the Public Works budget to cover storm-related costs.
”Those costs may not be out of pocket, but since we will not be receiving any FEMA funding until 2013, we need to make sure we’re covering any existing immediate staffing costs,” she said.
The town didn’t experience any major structural or equipment damage due to the storm, and although there was damage to the power lines. they were the responsibility of the utility company, the mayor added.
”We certainly had challenges throughout the storm. There were roads that were impassible and nonfunctioning traffic signals, but no roadway damage,” Mayor Mironov said.
Power outage varied throughout the town. There were parts of Twin Rivers that were out for just a few hours. Some small parts of town never lost power, and some areas had power restored Thursday, Nov. 1, including the municipal building.
Parts of town had power restored over the weekend following the storm, and the remainder of town for the most part had power restored late Monday with a few small neighborhoods having power restored Tuesday, Nov. 6.
Some homes needed some direct remedial work, which took a few more days, but most businesses were up and running eight days after the storm, the mayor said.
The Emergency Management Committee, which included the police and Public Works departments, was out the week preceding the storm making preparations.
”At that point, we didn’t know if we’d have water as well as wind issues,” Mayor Mironov said, adding the Emergency Management Committee made sure roads and storm drains were clear before the storm hit.
Superstorm Sandy hit 5 miles shy of Atlantic City at 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 29.
Public Work crews were out Tuesday, Oct. 30, clearing debris, and by Wednesday, Public Works was in full operation, and there is still an ongoing cleanup effort.
”Some work remains, but basic roadway clearing work has been well completed,” the mayor said. “There are some tree stumps and more labor-intensive work that can wait, but cleaning work was completed as quickly as possible.”
She also commended Bill Askenstedt, director of Public Works, for his outstanding efforts preparing for and cleaning up after the storm.
By the morning of Oct. 31, the township had a recharging area at the Fire Company No. 2 building on Twin Rivers Drive for devices that needed to be charged. The township also had identified several utilities in the event overnight shelter became necessary, although the mayor would not specify which utilities in town were designated for that purpose.
”Residents were encouraged to shelter at home or with family and friends, but if they needed other shelter, they were told to contact the Police Department,” Mayor Mironov said, adding overnight shelter really was not needed.
”There were some medical related issues that the township assisted with where people needed to be somewhere else, but we had no calls requesting overnight shelter,” Mayor Mironov added.
A statement to residents outlining the conditions of the township post-Hurricane Sandy also was posted on the East Windsor Township website, www.east-windsor.nj.us, on Nov. 12.

