Last week, roughly half of Cherry Hill went dark.
As Hurricane Sandy swept through the township, more than 12,000 residents lost their power and about a dozen traffic lights went out, many along Route 70, according to Township Spokeswoman Bridget Palmer.
“During the storm, our team (the team being a combination of police, fire, EMS, DPW) responded to 450 police calls; 220 fire, hazardous conditions, and medical emergency calls; more than 400 reports of downed wires and trees; sheltered 15 residents; cleared 67 trees, and serviced 3,500 storm inlets,” Palmer said in an email. “The downed tree list we had on Tuesday had 135 individual locations with trees that had fallen. By the end of the day Tuesday, DPW had cleared all but 25.”
The rest, she added, were tangled in power lines.
The good news is that there were no reported injuries in the township as a result of the storm, Palmer said.
“Fortunately, the township and the police and fire department were proactive in communicating the expected severity of the storm before it hit, which allowed residents to prepare well before the rain started to fall,” she said. “As conditions deteriorated, the vast majority of residents heeded our warnings. They stayed home, or had already relocated with friends and family in other areas, and the result is that, while there was certainly disruption in all our lives, our residents remained safe.”
There is no cost estimate yet assessed from the damage, she said.
The main problem the Cherry Hill School District encountered was a lack of power, said District Spokeswoman Susan Bastnagel.
At one point last Tuesday, Bastnagel said, about one third of the schools were without any power, though by last Thursday, power was restored to all schools other than Cherry Hill West and Malberg schools.
“We are extremely grateful to our facilities, buildings and grounds, custodial, and technology staff for their tireless, round-the-clock efforts throughout the storm,” she said. “Thanks to their ongoing monitoring, assessment of systems when power was restored, and cleanup efforts, the impact of Hurricane Sandy on district operations has been minimal.”
At the last remaining farm in Cherry Hill, damage was marginal, said Springdale Farms Co-owner John Ebert.
“We actually made out very well,” he said, with the biggest inconvenience being the power loss.
If anything, the storm was more of a nuisance than anything else at the farm, Ebert said.
The corn maze still stands, kids.
“It looks pretty good,” he said.
So how did Sandy compare with Irene’s damage from last year?
According to Palmer, it’s difficult to say.
“With flooding, we saw many reports of people whose homes had flooded,” she said. “With this storm, by and large, the more widespread damage seemed to come from downed trees and power lines.”
Both storms, she added, had extensive power outages through the township.
Mayor Chuck Cahn released a statement last Wednesday as the clean up process was underway.
His full report, which can be found on the township’s website, detailed power outages, scheduling changes and the hard work of crews day and night to restore normalcy through Cherry Hill.
Cahn also explained the efforts that were organized prior, during and after to Sandy’s landfall, between several departments, including the office of emergency management, the police and fire departments, EMS and public works.
“While we certainly did not emerge unscathed, I can say with absolute certainty that the situation would have been much worse if not for the high level of coordination and professionalism displayed by all involved,” Cahn said in the statement.
With power out for several days, many residents’ lives were greatly disrupted, Palmer said, but the township was fortunate compared to other communities that saw extreme devastation from Sandy.
Social networking and interaction with the township on the part of the community helped as a whole, she said.
“It helps us to know what residents are thinking, and it lets our residents know that we are here and we are listening,” said Palmer.
Cahn said that he wants to keep the communication lines open moving forward.
“I know this has been a difficult time for many of the people who call Cherry Hill home,” he said. “We will get through it together.”
Contact Mayor Cahn’s office with any concerns by phone at (856) 488–7878 or by email at MayorCahn@chtownship.com.
