Supermarkets, municipalities sit and wait for the storm that never arrived.
By: Mark Moffa
It was to be The Big One. The Blizzard of 2001. Total snow accumulations could top 2 feet.
Area residents blitzed supermarkets, stocking up on everything from bottled water to toilet paper.
Weather forecasters warned of the impending monster. News reports hyped the storm, with reporters on location waiting for the first flakes to fall.
Road crews prepared their equipment for days of wear and tear. They, too, waited for the flakes. They waited. And waited. And waited.
The blizzard never showed.
Interior areas of New England received heavy snow, although the storm never got quite as large as originally predicted.
Nevertheless, the threat of a big storm sent almost everyone in the area scurrying to prepare.
"It was controlled chaos," said Jeff Davis, manager of Marrazzo’s Thriftway in the Shoppes at Foxmoor. "It was actually busier than Christmas."
With the storm predicted to begin Sunday, residents raided stores Saturday. Mr. Davis said Marrazzo’s did more business Saturday than the busiest day last year, which was Dec. 23.
Mr. Davis said it is important for the store to think ahead in preparation for the large volume of business. He called distributors Friday to try to get extra deliveries of bread, milk, meat and produce. He also needed to schedule as many employees as possible to work the weekend.
Mr. Davis said he opened the store at 7 a.m. Saturday, as usual.
"By five (minutes) after 7, they were coming in the door," he said.
Marrazzo’s went through three days’ worth of bread in a day and a half, Mr. Davis said.
The store ran out of bread by Sunday morning, received its Monday delivery on Sunday, but was sold out again by Monday morning.
Mr. Davis said Marrazzo’s did not run out of any other products.
He also said he was glad the big storm never showed.
"The best scenario for a supermarket is when they call for the snow and it doesn’t show up," he said. "If that snow had come, we would have lost a lot of money."
He said the cleanup costs and revenue lost during the days of the storm would have hurt business significantly.
Mr. Davis said it would take until Wednesday for the store’s stock to return to normal.
Joe Black, director of Super Fresh on Route 130 in East Windsor, agreed.
Mr. Black said the store did about three times the business it would normally do on a Saturday. The problem, he said, was not limited to the number of customers.
"The average order was a lot larger than a normal day," Mr. Black said. He said individuals who would normally buy $75 worth of groceries, for example, spent closer to $125.
Business on Sunday, he said, was 30 to 40 percent greater than normal.
Volume usually slows around 9 or 10 Saturday night, Mr. Black said. But last Saturday, the store was busy until 4 a.m.
Mr. Davis and Mr. Smith both commended the patience and calmness of their customers. Mr. Black remembers one customer in particular.
A woman, he said, waited in a long line to buy one box of cat food.
Mr. Davis and Ms. Smith also applauded their employees for working long, hard hours.
While grocery store employees were logging long hours, area road crews were anticipating 12-hour shifts of salting, sanding, and plowing.
"We check, double-check, check, and double-check (our equipment), and then wait," said Lorene Wright, Allentown’s borough clerk.
She said the borough, which opened Monday and Tuesday, was well prepared for the storm.
The borough has two trucks for plowing and spreading salt and sand, and three public works employees. Allentown, she said, is right on target with its winter weather budget.
Washington Township, however, is not as lucky.
Mayor Dave Fried and Public Works Superintendent George Field said the township has spent more than it budgeted for salt and sand this winter.
Mr. Field said the township takes an average of the quantity of supplies used over the past five years and budgets for that average. But with little winter weather the last four seasons, the township budgeted for about 200 tons of salt and sand.
Washington’s roads had seen 280 tons of salt and sand by Monday afternoon. About 80 tons were used each of the last four years, Mr. Field said. During the winter of 1995-96, about 400 tons were spread on township roads.
Mr. Field said the township has eight public works employees, including himself. He began preparing for the storm with the help of another worker Sunday afternoon.
Salt was spread throughout the town between 10 p.m. Sunday night and 1 a.m. Monday morning, but by 1 a.m. it was just raining and Mr. Field sent his employee home. Mr. Field stayed through the night, though, keeping an eye on road conditions.
The township has eight vehicles equipped to plow five of those trucks can salt and sand.
Mr. Field said a sand/salt mixture is usually used on the roads unless the temperature is below 24 degrees, at which point salt is ineffective in melting ice and snow. At those temperatures a calcium chloride compound is spread on the roads.
Mr. Field said that in addition to the salt/sand budget problems, the township has exceeded its budget for filling potholes as well. But he’s not too concerned.
"Spring is coming," he said.
Upper Freehold Mayor David Horsnall said when it comes to budgeting for snowstorm-related items, "we try to build in an adequate amount of funding."
He said the amount of money the township spends on salt, sand and overtime expenses vary every year. Sometimes the winters can be harsh as in 1996, but some are more mild.
"In the long run, hopefully it all evens out," he said.
Millstone Mayor Evan Maltz said salt and sand costs weren’t the issue, but personnel is key in snowstorm situations.
Acting Gov. Donald DiFrancesco called for a state of emergency across New Jersey, and many municipal offices closed. "Now, we’ll have to pay public works overtime," Mayor Maltz said.
If overtime payments mount, the township would have to "pare back from equipment purchases and maintenance" in the Public Works Department’s budget, Mayor Maltz said.