Hurricane Irene brought down dozens of trees in Cherry Hill Township, flooded roadways and knocked out power to about 40 to 50 percent of residents.
This upcoming weekend will mark five years since Hurricane Irene hit South Jersey. The storm ravished the area with high winds and flooding during the morning of Aug. 28, 2011.
In Cherry Hill, the storm caused voluntary evacuations, trees to topple over and power outages. The township received about 100 calls for downed trees during the storm. About 60 of those trees were deemed hazardous. Just a day after the storm, the Department of Public Works had all of the downed trees and power lines cleared up.
Flooding was also a threat during Hurricane Irene. Prior to the story, the township handed out approximately 2,000 sandbags at Cherry Hill High Schools East and West. During the storm, roads such as Route 70, Route 38 and Haddonfield-Berlin Road were all closed at some point due to flooding. On the morning of Aug. 28, there was also a voluntary evacuation near the Evans Mill Dam along the Cooper River after it rose three feet above flood level around 6 a.m. on Aug. 28. The water would recede in just a few hours.
Power outages occurred in various part of the township during the storm. At some point during the storm, between 40 and 50 percent of Cherry Hill residents lost power. Power was restored to about 90 percent of resident by Aug. 29.
Township officials said most residents heeded warnings to stay inside during the story, Only one incident was reported in Cherry Hill of a motorist driving into a body of water.
While the damage in Cherry Hill was mostly minor, other parts of New Jersey did not fare so well. Northern and Central Jersey suffered widespread flooding and significant damage as a result. There were also more reports of wind damage in the northern part of the state. Hurricane Irene would end up being the costliest disaster in New Jersey history at the time at approximately $1 billion damage.
