Storm performs under prediction
By Amy Batista, Special Writer
Winter Storm Juno was expected to pound the area earlier this week, but many awoke to find the “historic blizzard” a bust compared to what meteorologists were predicting in the preceding days.
“All departments were prepared for the worst and hoped for the best,” said Police Commissioner Borough Council member Seth Kurs in an email Wednesday. “Fortunately Mother Nature took pity on us and shifted the storm else.”
East Windsor and Hightstown prepared for the major winter storm that was expected to dump two feet of snow on the region through Tuesday night.
The East Windsor Regional School District dismissed school early Monday and the township postponed garbage pickup Monday and Tuesday until Jan. 30, according to the township.
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning Sunday evening for New Jersey, including Mercer County and parts of Pennsylvania, Delaware and New England through Tuesday afternoon as two systems took aim at the Northeast part of the country.
Winter Storm Juno transformed from a clipper-type system, which brought a few inches of snow to the Midwest Sunday, into a major coastal storm off the Northeast coast with widespread accumulations of one to two feet of snow were expected in this region, according to the National Weather Service.
However, our region saw more of a moderate storm with just a few inches in some places to up to 10 inches of snow falling in the area.
Gov. Chris Christie declared a state of emergency Monday around noon. State offices were dismissed early at 1 p.m. and closed on Tuesday. A travel ban was imposed on all unnecessary travel at 11 p.m. Monday night and was lifted at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.
In an alert to residents, East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov advised residents not to park on township streets so plows could get through and reminded them to shovel driveways and sidewalks.
“Residents working in harmony with the Township and the Police and Public Works Departments will help make achieving the common goal of a safer community a reality this winter,” her email alert said.
In Hightstown, Commissioner Kurs put out an email Sunday night talking about what the borough was doing to get ready for the storm.
“Lt. (Frank) Gendron is scheduling a meeting for key department heads (Police, Fire, EMS, and Public Works) for (Tuesday) to coordinate efforts and assure that contingency plans are put into place,” Mr. Kurs said in the email. “(Fire) Chief Scott Jenkins has confirmed that firefighters will be placed on standby to assure the apparatus is staffed and to reduce response times. Although I have not been able to confirm with HFAS as of this moment, it is their customary practice to do the same with their members, and I would anticipated that they would follow our Emergency Management procedures as well.”
He also said that while snow can certainly pose various concerns and even some safety issues, the public should not be in a panic.
“This is New Jersey, we are located in the Atlantic Northeast, we experience snow almost every year. As such, our first responders are experienced professionals and well equipped to address these issues,” he said.
The Public Works Department was also ready with salt and plows.
“Public works got vehicles and supplies prepared and salted roads pre and during early snowfall and then as needed,” Mayor Mironov said.
Hightstown Public Works also was ready with salt and plows, Police Commissioner and council member Kurs said.
“The police were ready with appropriate staffing and ready for additional calls for service and extended shifts and our administration were all ready to respond and support our emergency personnel,” he said on Wednesday.
Hightstown First Aid Captain Mark Madonia said they had a stand by crew at the squad building
“Fortunately, there were no calls or incidents,” he said in an email on Wednesday.
Most schools, municipal, state and federal offices, as well as many businesses were closed Tuesday.
“I was being told as late as 9 p.m. (Monday) night that we were looking at 20-inch accumulations in most of New Jersey,” Gov. Christie said during a televised interview Wednesday morning. “In fact, if that was what would’ve happened having these types of things in effect were absolutely the right decisions to make.”
He said they were acting on what they were being told.
“Fortunately for our state and for our region, they were wrong and so now we can get our lives back to normal,” Gov. Christie said. “When it comes to protecting human lives I’m always going to air on the side of caution.”
Gov. Christie said there were only 75 reported power outages in the state.
“The biggest challenge was obtaining accurate up to date information regarding storm expectations and timing, so as to make decisions,” Mayor Mironov said.
She said, in general, there were very few calls or event activity during “storm” time.
“There were very small number of calls and no major incidents,” she said, adding there were no power outages. “As always, we greatly appreciate the good work of our public works department and police and availability and support of our township fire and rescue volunteers.”