file photo by Boyd Loving
North Jersey towns applying lessons learned from Superstorm Sandy
Sunday July 21, 2013, 11:40 PM
BY DENISA R. SUPERVILLE
STAFF WRITER
The Record
Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich remembers how difficult it was providing timely information to a frustrated and anxious public plunged into darkness, with no gas and limited or no Internet access, after Superstorm Sandy barreled into the state.
After daily conference calls with utilities and the governor’s office, Sokolich’s staff distributed hundreds of fliers with updates on power restoration, tree removal and street reopenings.
“It was incredibly time-consuming, but it was the only way to reach the public,” said Sokolich, whose borough sustained about $1 million in public damage from the storm.
Sokolich has learned his lesson and is determined not to be caught off-guard again. For example, Fort Lee is launching an emergency radio broadcast system to deliver local alerts.
With two major tropical storms slamming North Jersey in the last two years, municipalities are rethinking how they plan for and respond to natural disasters. In addition to Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and Sandy last year, the region has been subjected to a March 2010 nor’easter and an October 2011 snowstorm, both of which felled thousands of tree limbs and disrupted electrical power to hundreds of thousands. Municipalities now know they have to prepare for more frequent and disruptive weather events, not just occasional tropical storms and annual winter snowstorms.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/bogota/North_Jersey_towns_applying_lessons_learned_from_Superstorm_Sandy.html#sthash.r9QyZefe.dp
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