By Amy Batista, Special Writer
HIGHTSTOWN — Last year, Mayor Steven Kirson was on vacation Aug. 21 and was scheduled to return Aug. 27 when Hurricane Irene hit.
However, he was unable to fly home when the storm hit the East Coast, so Council President Larry Quattrone was left in charge of Hightstown when Irene struck Hightstown — the night of Aug. 27.
”I was down in St. Martin and supposed to come back (that) Saturday, the night of the storm, but they closed the airports, which I was real surprised (at) because the weather reports seemed to say I would be able to get in,” said Mayor Kirson, adding he got stuck there for two more days.
Council President Quattrone was thus acting mayor while Mayor Kirson was away.
”It was like being in charge of the worst nightmare you ever had,” Mr. Quattrone said.
He explained, “Being mayor meant nothing. It was just being in charge and trying to do the right thing at the right time. My biggest headache that night was trying to contact the press, TV, the radio, too. I couldn’t get a hold of anyone. The only one I could get a hold of was NJ101.5. The lines were down so how do you put out a warning on water or transportation when you can’t get a hold of anybody”
He said, “It was a lot of water, real quick.”
Mr. Quattrone said he opened the locks on the dam Aug. 27.
”I opened the dam up at 10 o’clock in the morning and lowered the lake probably 20 inches,” Mr. Quattrone said.
He said he put himself out on a limb when he did it and got criticized later because he didn’t have a permit to do it at the time.
Councilwoman Selena Bibens said the eye of the storm “hovered over” Hightstown for seven hours.
”I knew it was coming, but I expected it to go by, and it stalled over Hightstown, and we got bombarded,” Mr. Quattrone said.
Councilwoman Bibens plans for Hurricane Irene included shelter at the firehouse, but that was not what Mother Nature had in mind.
Ms. Bibens said that around 11:45 p.m., she checked in with Deputy Scott Jenkins with the Hightstown Engine Company No. 1 to find out what was happening and to see what she could do before she headed downtown.
”I got in my truck, and I had to come over the Peddie bridge,” Ms. Bibens said. “It was just a lot of debris.”
She added, “The water was just a river, and it was up to my knees,” saying it was about a foot and half when she got out of her truck.
Ms. Bibens said the people in the firehouse had be relocated to the church on Bank and Mechanic streets.
”And then it was pretty much out and about looking to see what had actually happened,” Ms. Bibens said.
A temporary command station set up for the police station and Fire Department was to be set up since the firehouse no longer was able to be used. It was set up at St. Anthony’s on Franklin Street around 2:15 a.m., according to Ms. Bibens, after she was able to reach Father Patrick McDonnell.
Ms. Bibens could recall vividly almost hour by hour what she did in Hightstown during Hurricane Irene.
”Next thing, I woke up at 10 o’clock the next morning to Larry Quattrone knocking on my door, saying we are having an emergency meeting; see who you can round up,” she said. “I notified whoever I needed to notify, and that’s when we literally just started trying to put pieces back together.”
She said, “It’s crazy. I can’t believe it’s been a year already.”
She recalled, “As crazy as the situation was down there, it was like somebody was sucking the water up because by 7 p.m., the water was all gone. It was just bizarre, but then what was left was just remnants of dirt.”
Ms. Bibens recalled some rescues made by the Fire Department — from rescuing people from cars in the middle of roads — and people on surfboards and tubing. Officials, meanwhile, were trying to maintain the infrastructure of the town.
Ms. Bibens said it was a formal meeting Sunday morning, Aug. 28, in which she, Lynne Woods, Isabel McGinty, Mike Vanderbeck and Skye Gilmartin took part. Mr. Quattrone ran the meeting as acting mayor.
The next day, the borough held its regular scheduled council meeting. All department heads were in attendance at the meeting with updates from each on what had happened and what needed to happen, according to Ms. Bibens.
”I called an emergency council meeting because I had some real important decisions that had to be made,” Mr. Quattrone said. “Prior to that (first meeting), I had East Windsor turn on their water for us. They were very cooperative for us.”
The first meeting was at 10 a.m. Aug. 29 in which all department heads were called in to review the damage and talk about what it would take to get back up and running. A second emergency meeting was held at 3 p.m. that day in which officials had estimates of repair costs and other information on getting things back to normal.
”In between those meetings, I meet with the chief of police, (James Eufemia) and we decided to move the temporary police up to Lucas Electric,” Mr. Quattrone said.
Mr. Quattrone said Matt Lucas was “very cooperative,” and it was “no lease,” just an “agreement,” at the time so police could have a temporary place to work from since their station had just been flooded.
Mayor Kirson was unaware of the destruction Hurricane Irene did to his town and was about to get a first-hand look when he arrived home.
”We didn’t know what kind of damage there was, and, interestingly enough, when we got in the car at Newark, and we were coming down the Turnpike, everything looked pretty clean,” Mayor Kirson said. “I really wasn’t aware of what I was walking into.”
He added, “We (municipal officials) had taken some immediate action to keep the borough moving. The borough was relatively clean after a day and a half. They were working real hard, and things seem to be functioning under that terrible disruption, but we were going forward.”
Mayor Kirson said, “Very shortly, we were functioning.”
He said he was “pretty proud” of municipal employees because there was no disruption of services after the storm hit.
”We always find out how do people act under duress? Everyone stood up tall,” Mayor Kirson said.
Ms. Bibens said the 7-11 in Twin Rivers and ShopRite in East Windsor donated food to the Hightstown Fire Department for residents displaced by the storm.
”The amount of cooperation from the townspeople and town employees was unbelievable,” Mr. Quattrone said.
Mr. Quattrone said Hurricane Irene taught municipal officials some hard lessons.
”We are more prepared today than we were at the time of the storm,” Mr. Quattrone said. “We understand what is going to happen. We know who to contact, we know more about emergency management, we know who to move, we know where the evacuation points would have to be. We’ve learned a lot from the storm.”
Michael Theokas, business administrator, reflected on Hurricane Irene, but at the time, he had not taken office yet.
”They officially voted on my contract Sept. 7,” Mr. Theokas said.
He recalled, “I remember standing at Kraisers and being able to see the water flowing right through the Fire Department and flow past where we’re sitting right now (Public Works Department),” Mr. Theokas said.
Mayor Janice Mironov was unavailable for a comment at press time.
