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“We’re going to be facing some enormous challenges,” Bergen Executive Kathleen Donovan told the group
“This is going to be a long storm. Please recognize that,” Bergen County Emergency Management Coordinator Dwane Razzetti told the group. “At some point, the storm will be over but there could still be flooding and structure collapses.
“Water has moved houses,” he added. “So it can easily move a backhoe or object that can harm responders.”
Moments after the 20-minute session, county officials declared their own state of emergency, allowing the Red Cross to come in to provide relief, among other measures. This follows the New Jersey call by Gov. Christie.
Blankets and other supplies have already been stocked at Bergen Community College, Demarest High School, the Lyndhurst Senior Center and facilities in Rochelle Park, Mahwah and elsewhere that will be used as shelters, Razzetti said.
CLIFFVIEW PILOT EXCLUSIVE REPORT: Massive power outages and flooding will likely continue past midnight tonight, as New York runoff swells the already overflowing Hackensack River, Pascack Brook and area reservoirs, making an already bad situation much worse, Bergen County leaders told mayors and other government officials during a 15-minute emergency conference call this afternoon. READ MORE ….
Bergen is also anticipating busloads of evacuated Jersey Shore residents at the Izod Center in the Meadowlands.
With its headquarters in Mahwah, waves of emergency responders and relief workers are at the ready, chain of command in place, from one end of Bergen to the other. These include expert scuba teams trained in “swift water” rescues, as well as representatives from the area utilities.
Razzetti said emergency operations will be in full force throughout the county by 8 a.m. Sunday.
As Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino noted, the resources are strategically spread out: If one emergency unit can’t get somewhere, another can. Both he and county Public Safety Director Brian Higgins said they have dozens of off-duty troops from their respective agencies on standby, and will help any department or municipality in need, no matter the request.
Fairview police have already sought mutual law enforcement aid, which both Saudino and Higgins said they will provide for them – as well as for anyone else who calls.
“We are a force multiplier,” Higgins told the mayors, police chiefs and other local officials during the late afternoon session. “No call is too small.”
Higgins also said his department has partnered with various consulates, so that “if any visiting national is injured, they will come here to help and free up our assets.”
All county parks will be closed. The animals at the Van Saun Park Zoo are also being taken to shelters, county officials said.
There are still several areas of major concern. Consider, for instance, that three inches of rainfall causes flooding in several areas of Bergen County – and the most recent forecast for Irene is 6 to 10 inches here.
Reverse 911 calling at the county level will be difficult in Bergen, Razzettti said, because it has more than five dozen municipalities. Some town have their own systems, however.
County officials emphasized that anyone who experiences electrical trouble, or an outage, must call PSE&G or Orange & Rockland Utilities, not local police. Dialing 911 doesn’t alert the utility companies to where the problems are – and worse, it potentially blocks genuine calls for help by jamming up the lines.
“PSE&G customers should be aware that if they experience a power outage they should call PSE&G’s customer service line at 1-800-436-7734,” Donovan said. “Calling this automated number will advise PSE&G that you are without power and put you in the queue for repair.
“Do not assume that PSE&G automatically knows about your outage or that someone else has reported it,” she said. “Make the call.”
Customers of Rockland Electric should call 1-877-434-4100 to report power outages, she said.
“Right now it looks serious, but not catastrophic,” Razzetti said during the late afternoon briefing. “However, hurricanes are very variable.”
At the same time, he said: “Some of us have been through this before. We’re better prepared today than we were then.”
Donovan said she hoped this not only put everyone on the same page but gave local officials a measure of reassurance that the county’s emergency response and relief plans can help all of them.
“We look like we’re going to be facing some enormous challenges,” Donovan told the group. “We, and all of you, are taking this very seriously.
“Stay safe.”
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