Haddonfield generally fared well as Hurricane Sandy swept through early last week.
Only about 25 percent of the borough lost power, said Commissioner Ed Borden.
“The substantial majority of the town was never without power,” Borden said.
Eighteen borough trees plus several trees on private residences fell, and there were about a dozen downed wires, he said.
At times, police did need to block off streets due to downed trees, but the issues were generally quickly resolved, he said.
There was one automobile accident early in the storm, Borden said.
According to Chief of Police John Banning, on Monday, Oct. 29, at 6:45 p.m. at the intersection of Grove Street and Hopkins Lane, a tree that fell across the road hit a car. The driver and child in the car were transported by ambulance to Virtua Hospital in Voorhees, but their conditions were not immediately known.
Many residents stayed indoors through the duration of the storm, heeding the advice of the borough, county and state officials.
“People really did hunker down,” Borden said. “I think that’s one reason that we were so fortunate.”
Residents were able to stay up to date with occurrences as they happened through several borough bulletins on the HaddonfieldNJ.org website, from closings to postponements to places to charge their phones if needed after the storm passed.
There is no cost estimate thus far for the damages associated with the storm, Borden said.
“We’ve been told by federal and state officials even before the storm to keep very careful accounting of what we suffer in terms of expenses,” Borden said, for agencies such as FEMA to in part reimburse costs.
There were still a few trees felled in Haddonfield as of last Thursday, but the borough was generally in good shape, said Borden.
“Our volunteers and our borough personnel really were fantastic in this,” he said, including the police auxiliary and almost all-volunteer fire company, as well as administrative borough employees, public works and the police department.
Crews worked around the clock to restore order, he said.
“I can’t say enough about them all,” Borden added.
At the borough schools, downed trees and a loss of power cancelled classes until last Thursday.
According to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Richard Perry, large trees fell down, knocking out power lines stemming to the high school, Bancroft School and in parts of Cherry Hill.
“As a school district, we had debris (and) down trees around certain areas,” said Perry. “Another main concern of ours was the number of downed wires throughout the community.”
Many of those wires, he said, were in the paths of children who walk to school.
When classes re-convened last week, some wires remained down. Police, he said, monitored those spots while children traveled to and from school.
School officials met tediously with borough officials and emergency management prior to the storm in preparation.
“It’s good to know that we have that type of cooperation within the community,” he said.
Tatem, Elizabeth Haddon and the high school had been targeted to be evacuation sites, if needed, said Perry.
Sandy was more of a disruption than Irene last year, he said, between the power loss and downed wires.
“We’re just thankful that everybody’s safe,” Perry said. “We’re very pleased with how we accomplished what we set out to do.”
And that, he said, was keeping all students safe.
To stay up to date on borough happenings, visit www.haddonfieldnj.org and follow the updates of the school district at www.haddonfield.k12.nj.us.
