Tropical Storm Isaias has left the area but Burlington County officials urged residents to continue to be cautious due to downed wires and widespread power outages.
No injuries were reported, but emergency officials reported that several homes were struck by downed trees or branches on Aug. 4. Damage assessments across the county are expected to begin today.
“We may have gotten through the worst of the storm’s impacts, but nearly every town has significant outages so we all have to continue to be careful,” Freeholder Dan O’Connell, the board’s liaison to the Department of Public Safety, said in a prepared statement. “We’re thankful that there were no apparent injuries or major damages, but there’s still a lot of clean up left to be done. We’re asking residents to give road and utility crews room to work and to check in on elderly neighbors who are without electricity.”
“The coronavirus pandemic is also still active, so we also need to continue to be mindful of social-distancing restrictions and mask wearing,” O’Connell added.
Emergency calls
Isaias began impacting the county shortly after 10 a.m. Aug. 4. Some areas were soaked with upwards of 1.36 inches of rain, along with powerful winds, including some gusts up to 75 mph.
From 10 p.m. until 3 p.m., Burlington County Central Communications fielded a total of 1,986 911 emergency and non-emergency administrative calls, along with an additional 6,886 incident calls from police and other sources, according to the statement.
During the same time period last week, dispatchers fielded about 420 911 and administrative non-emergency calls.
Burlington County is the only county in New Jersey that provides emergency 911 dispatch service to every one of its municipalities, according to the statement.
Power outages
Some 86,000 properties in the county were without power as of 3 p.m. Aug. 4, and utilities warned that complete restoration would be unlikely for several days.
Willingboro, Pemberton Township, Mount Laurel, Edgewater Park, Moorestown, Lumberton and Southampton were among the hardest hit municipalities. Each had more than 3,000 outages, according to the statement.
Among the properties without power were several long-term care facilities that were on back-up generators. Clare Estates, an assisted living center in Bordentown, was also without electricity and had no generator power. No evacuations have occurred, but officials were closely monitoring conditions at Clare and other facilities.
Road closures:
Twenty-four county highways were closed due to downed trees, wires or utility poles, as of Aug. 4:
- Bridgeboro Road in Delran;
- Burlington Avenue at Perkins Lane in Delanco;
- Burlington-Bustleton Road at Cedard Lane in Florence;
- Camden Avenue at Flynn Avenue in Moorestown;
- Chatsworth Road in Tabernacle;
- Church Road at Preamble Drive in Mount Laurel;
- Church Street at Noorwood in Mount Laurel;
- Croshaw Road in North Hanover;
- Eayrestown Road, between Landing Street and Municipal Drive, in Lumberton;
- Green Bank-Batsto Road in Washington Township;
- Hammonton Road at Route 9 in Bass River;
- Hartford Road in Mount Laurel;
- Junction Road in Pemberton Township;
- Lenola Road at Kings Highway in Cinnaminson;
- Main Street, between Route 70 and Church Road, in Medford;
- Marne Highway at Hartford Road in Mount Laurel;
- Mill Street at Branch in Southampton;
- Monmouth Road at Springfield Road in Springfield;
- Odd Fellows Road in Pemberton Township;
- Old York Road at Burlington-Columbus and Hedding in Florence;
- Paulson Road in North Hanover;
- Pemberton-Browns Mills Road in Pemberton Township;
- River Road in Burlington City;
- Warren Street in Edgewater Park.