Winter Weather Advisory 1/2/14

From Middletown Alerts:

This is a message from Middletown Emergency Management. Snow, strong winds and coastal flooding are expected through Friday. High tide will be about 8:30 pm Thursday night and about 9 am Friday morning. Take all necessary precautions.

Call 1-888-LIGHTSS for power outages, that's 1-888-544-4877.  Updates will be posted towww.middletownnj.org as needed.

Please remember 9-1-1 is for emergencies only.

Prepared for the Storm
Middletown Township Public Works has made the necessary preparations for this storm. New supplies of salt and sand have been delivered to the Public Works Yard. Road crews are ready to be activated. Township snow removal equipment has been inspected and readied for service.

Main roads are being pre-treated with salt brine to help prevent snow and ice from bonding to the roads. Approximately 75 trucks will be activated as necessary along with about 100 personnel who man vehicles, shovel municipal sidewalks and perform other related tasks.

Power Outages & Downed Wires - Do not approach downed wires.  Call JCP&L at 1-888-LIGHTSS for power outages and downed wires, that’s 1-888-544-4877.  You can also visit the My Town section of the utility company’s website at www.firstenergycorp.com/mytown for outage information.

Coastal Flooding - Please do not use roads that are barricaded as the road may be flooded to an unknown depth.

Do not drive your vehicle through flood waters. The water may be deeper than you think. You will be putting yourself in danger and your vehicle may be damaged, leading to costly repairs.

Snow Plowing - To aid the Public Works Department in clearing the streets, please do not throw snow back into the street and do not plow snow into the roadway. 

Sidewalks - For the safety of pedestrians, please remember that township ordinances require that sidewalks be cleared of snow and ice 24 hours after the snowfall ends.

Click here for More Information on Snow Removal Regulations and Plowing Procedures

Fire HydrantsDo not bury fire hydrants with snow. Please assist our Emergency Responders by clearing snow away from the fire hydrant.

Garbage and Recycling - There is a possibility that Garbage and Recycling Collection will be cancelled due to inclement weather conditions.

Vehicle SafetyClear off accumulated snow and ice before driving your vehicle. New Jersey motor vehicle laws provides for a summons for careless driving to be issued to the operator of any vehicle where an accumulation of ice or snow from their car or truck coming off while driving and striking the vehicle of another. We have all been on the receiving end of these sheets of snow and ice from the vehicle of careless motorists. Avoid a summons; avoid causing damage or an accident by cleaning off accumulated snow and ice before driving.

Be sure your brakes are balanced and pull equally on all wheels which will avoid skids; replace your windshield wiper blades and add proper antifreeze solution to washer; have your battery tested to avert breakdowns and check headlights and tail lights to be sure all are working. Carbon monoxide is deadly! Check mufflers and entire exhaust system for leaks. You should have snow tires or matching radial tires to ensure traction.

It is a good safety measure to have a shovel, bag of sand, rock salt, traction mat, booster cables, safety flares, etc.

More Information

• Ready.gov – Winter Preparedness
• Weather.gov – National Weather Service
• JCP&L – My Town
• www.middletownk12.org

President Obama on Hurricane Irene: Take this Storm Seriously

From the White House Blog

This morning, President Obama was briefed once again by DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, and senior White House officials about preparations being made for Hurricane Irene. Following the briefing, the President urged Americans in the projected path of the hurricane to take precautions now:

Don’t delay. We all hope for the best, but we have to be prepared for the worst. All of us have to take this storm seriously. You need to listen to your state and local officials, and if you are given an evacuation order, please follow it. Just to underscore this point: We ordered an aircraft carrier group out to sea to avoid this storm yesterday. So if you’re in the way of this hurricane, you should be preparing now.

Visit Ready.gov or Listo.gov for resources on how you can prepare your families, home, and businesses for a hurricane. You can get the latest updates on the progression of Hurricane Irene at Hurricanes.gov.

The President also provided an overview of ongoing federal preparations:

Now, since last weekend, FEMA has been deploying its Incident Management Assistance Teams to staging areas in communities up and down the coast. FEMA has millions of liters of water, millions of meals, and tens of thousands of cots and blankets, along with other supplies, pre-positioned along the Eastern Seaboard. And the American Red Cross has already begun preparing shelters in North Carolina and other states.

These resources are all being coordinated with our state and local partners, and they stand ready to be deployed as necessary. But, again, if you are instructed to evacuate, please do so. It's going to take time for first responders to begin rescue operations and to get the resources we've pre-positioned to people in need. So the more you can do to be prepared now -- making a plan, make a supply kit, know your evacuation route, follow instructions of your local officials -- the quicker we can focus our resources after the storm on those who need help the most.

To sum up, all indications point to this being a historic hurricane. Although we can’t predict with perfect certainty the impact of Irene over the next few days, the federal government has spent the better part of last week working closely with officials in communities that could be affected by this storm to see to it that we are prepared. So now is the time for residents of these communities -- in the hours that remain -- to do the same. And FEMA and Craig Fugate, the director of FEMA, will be keeping people closely posted in the next 24, 48 hours.

NJ Senator Barbara Buono: Be Prepared For Hurricane Irene

Here is some good advice that I received in my inbox this morning from NJ Senate Majority Leader, Senator Barbara Buono on being prepared for this weekends hurricane.

This weekend, Hurricane Irene is projected to hit New Jersey. The brunt of the storm will hit our state Sunday. Yesterday, Governor Christie declared a state of emergency, and we should all start preparing now.

The New Jersey Office of Emergency Management has set up a website – www.ready.nj.gov – where you can find comprehensive instructions on what to do in a hurricane. Please print out their checklist. You can also find links to updated weather maps to track Irene’s path.

Here are a few tips to prepare for the hurricane:
• Make sure you have necessities in your home - including plenty of food, water, blankets, batteries, flashlights and a first aid kit.
• Have a hand-cranked or battery-operated portable radio so you can listen to the latest news.
• Have your pantry stocked with canned food and a can opener in case your power goes out.
• If you take medicine, make sure you have an adequate supply and fill all prescriptions beforehand.
• Fill the gas tank in your car and make sure you have cash on-hand in case local gas pumps and ATMs are also affected by power outages.
• In a worst-case scenario, know your local evacuation route - especially if you live in an area prone to flooding.

To track Irene’s pattern, you can also check ongoing weather coverage at NJ.com, as well as the National Weather Service’s Hurricane Center for all the latest updates.

Please do not wait until the last minute to prepare.
Stay safe,

Senator Barbara Buono

Is Everyone Ready For Some More Snow ?

... I hope so.

According to the National Weather Service the Middletown area can expect anywhere from 6 - 9 inches of snow Tuesday night into Wednesday afternoon, so I'm hoping that this storm doesn't turn out to be a disaster, like the last storm that hit the area back on December 26th.

Are towns doing anything differently this time around to prepare for the upcoming snow?

Hazlet Township posted on it's newly created Facebook page earlier this afternoon that:

"As of 3:45 PM the Hazlet Township Emergency Operations Center is monitoring a Winter Storm Warning for a weather event capable of producing 6 to 9 inches of snow between 4 Pm Tuesday and noon Wednesday."

Which is good to see because it show that leaders of the town are trying to be proactive by informing residents a head of time what they can expect from the township. Will it have any effect on how well the powers that be respond to the upcoming storm? I don't know but I sure would hope so.

Is Middletown doing anything different this time around to keep residents informed about the coming storm after the fiasco of the last storm? Currently not much, but maybe that will change.

If you look at Middletown's website, they seemed to have overreacted to the possibility of snow over this past weekend when they posted preparation plans for a storm that never was over this past weekend:

"Middletown Township is making preparations for an expected Friday snow storm. New supplies of salt and sand have been delivered to the Public Works Yard with additional tonnage slated for delivery Friday. Road Crews are ready to be activated. Township snow removal equipment has been inspected and readied for service. In the past 24 hours, main roads have pre-treated with salt brine to help prevent snow and ice from bonding to the roads."

Are the same precautions going to be taken again starting late tomorrow afternoon? I should think that the Township would after all the flack that they received from residents that were buried in their homes for days after the Christmas weekend storm, but you never know.

But I would think that the response to this pending storm can only be better because it couldn't keep any worse.

As they say, "you live and you learn".

So here's to hoping that towns in the area have learned for the mistakes of the last storm so that we don't have to live through the same mistakes again.