Sandy Post Mortem: Public Works
Township employees looked at what worked and what fell short during the tropical storm and look towards the future.
The first 90 minutes of the Springfield Township Committee meeting on Tuesday, Nov. were devoted to a review on Springfield’s response to Sandy.
The consensus among department heads and officials was that lessons from the previous year’s major disruptive weather events, Irene and the October Snowstorm, where learned and applied, but that additional resources were needed to prepare the township for future storms. The departments all noted that storage and procurement of fuel and generators presented a challenge in the storm and would factor heavily in planning for coming storms.
Public Works director Ken Homlish detailed how his crews’ extensive preparation for the storm was informed by the township’s experience with Irene. To stave off the flooding that paralyzed the town after Irene, public works crews cleared 300 yards of leaves from Springfield streets and cleared catch basins as well as the flood gates on Riverside drive.
While flooding wasn’t a problem in this storm, Sandy’s powerful winds had an equally devastating effect. Homlish said that felled trees and power lines closed down 18 roads in town, including two county roads. Public works prioritized opening those roads in the first day of the storm before spending the next week clearing trees. Fuel was not in steady supply, but the crews cleared more debris than in either of the 2011 storms, hauling 4200 yards of debris compared to 3200 in the previous year’s snowstorm and 1500 during Irene.
In addition to utilizing fully staffed crews, Homlish brought in contractors to clear streets and township properties. In addition, while he admitted to some initial apprehension about the prospect, Homlish also utilized township volunteers in tree clearings.
When touching on needed changes, Homlish said his department needed ready access to fuel and backup generators as well as cell phones for emergency communications. He said that many of the stumps remaining from trees downed in the storms were beyond his department’s capacity for removal and that he needed to bring in contractors to remove them. He said he believed FEMA was likely to reimburse the town for the expense.
Township Committee member David Amlen asked if there were plans in place to replace the trees, noting that the tree roots were critical for water storage and flood mitigation. Homlish said while 45 trees were slated to come in later this month and that his department was looking into whether FEMA would reimburse Springfield for replacing them.
“The trees are a valuable asset for the town,” Homlish said.
David Frank
7:10 am on Friday, November 30, 2012
Home owners should be incented to remove or pollard trees abutting the roadways which could fall on power lines,
NJ Transplant
8:14 am on Friday, November 30, 2012
The federal government needs to get of their collective a** and start budgeting for updating infrastructure. It's 2012 and power lines and various other utilities need to be underground so when there's another hurricane like Sandy there won't be as many issues. But Obama is too busy visiting Myanmar and continuing to fund these endless wars.
Warren Frank
9:59 am on Friday, November 30, 2012
DPW did an astounding job during the storm. However, our streets are now overflowing with leaves and tree branches that need to be removed before bad weather comes. Wet leaves can cause dangerous driving conditions. I also believe that despite the country look of having tree limbs across roads, it is time for towns and utility companies to start cutting back any branch that can cause damage to power lines. There are way too many branches currently sitting on or above lines waiting to come down in a storm and take out many homes electricity and cable.
NJ Transplant
11:30 am on Friday, November 30, 2012
Really??? Where do you see DPW cleaning leaves? Every street I drive down there are piles of leaves and tree branches which makes driving interesting.
NJ Transplant
11:36 am on Friday, November 30, 2012
Oh and Really??? BTW where I grew up on Staten Island the transformers and lines for pretty much everything are underground. Not like in Springfield where most of the homes were built in the '50's and no one bothered to update anything such as my house where there are utility poles in my yard. Parts of SI were without power for about a day not over a week like here.
Jim Shamrock
1:08 pm on Friday, November 30, 2012
There are still So many Huge trees that are still
Laying on Streets and property in town. Take a look
At the Nice crushed white extended Econoline van
Right in plain sight on S. Springfield Avenue?? Temporary Extra Help should be hired! Is Springfield township DPW or the township hiring with any of the local Emergency Funding for local jobs??
Jim Shamrock
2:46 pm on Friday, November 30, 2012
I have been going to the Fema disaster center almost daily to see which state department happens to be there and try to get as much information as possible.
The info from the state changes weekly. Now there has been approximately 15 million for Union County for temporary storm cleanup work. To qualify , you have to be unemployed with 0 income and they are supposed to provide local jobs. I've applied and been to 3 sessions at the Plainfield unemployment office and have heard NOTHING???
bob groder
5:42 pm on Friday, November 30, 2012
I feel the DPW has done an ok job in town considering how much there is to do. My street and neighborhood isnt close to done as most of the streets have tons of leaves and branches all over the place combined and in some cases out in the middle of the street making it impossible to drive on some side streets. some people are just lazy and pile the leaves in the middle of the street making it dangerous for people driving on the side streets. people just expect everything to be done for them. we need to cooperate with the DPW as their job is hard enough. if some people werent lazy they could spread out some of the leaves and branches instead of creating a hazard in some cases. people need to work together and not just for themselves. this is the same attitude i see when i stop at every red light when its about to turn red while people whiz through them. thanks to the new system I stop when i admit i didnt used to. everyone is always in a hurry and the same mindset applies when putting out their leaves.