Douglas Nims, Moorestown’s Public Works Director, said there are a variety of preparations that his department takes leading up to a storm.
The Mamas and The Papas may have said it best: “All the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey.”
It’s another New Jersey winter. With the temperatures continuing to plunge, there’s always the possibility that snow could be just around the corner, and if Mother Nature decides to do her worst, here are some of the best steps to battle your snow foe.
Douglas Nims, Moorestown’s Public Works director, said there are a variety of preparations his department takes leading up to a storm. They start monitoring weather forecasts prior to a storm to see if it will require just salt or a plowing. They calculate the amount of salt stored on hand at the department and prepare all the equipment they’ll need to remove snow and ice.
From there, they install spreaders and plows on the vehicles that can handle the equipment, ready their staff’s schedules and pre-salt the roads in preparation for the storm.
Nims said residents can help facilitate public works’ job by finding off-street parking and by staying off the roads to allow public works to travel efficiently from street to street. He said residents should avoid blowing snow from sidewalks back into the street and wait until public works has completely cleared their street from curb to curb before shovelling their driveway aprons out.
Township Manager Thomas Neff said Police Chief Lee Lieber reliably sends notices from Moorestown’s emergency alert system to residents and businesses warning them of weather events. These warnings encourage residents to be prepared and to help the township help them by adhering to the best practices cited by public works.
Neff said the township is in the process of installing a tracking system on its vehicles that will allow it to review snow removal patterns and response times to to establish the most reasonable and efficient snow removal strategies possible.
“It will also help us — in real time — understand which streets have been plowed and how best to allocate our 20 plows during an event,” Neff said.
Nims offered up a few snow removal tips for residents.
“Always fight the storm from the bottom up — meaning pre-salt sidewalks and driveways prior to the snow or ice arriving,” Nims said.
He also recommended that residents use calcium chloride for concrete as it does not damage it.
Residents with children in the school district should monitor the district’s website for updates about potential school closings. Any formal closures are announced at www.mtps.com.
When temperatures dip below the freezing point, Burlington County is thinking about how to keep those most vulnerable to storms and cold weather out of harm’s way. During these below freezing temperatures, the county issues a Code Blue Weather Emergency, which allows local agencies to take in and shelter at-risk homeless during these dangerous conditions.
The county does not release the locations of the shelters to the general public. Instead, those seeking shelter are encouraged to call the county’s Code Blue partner, CONTACT of Burlington County. The nonprofit crisis hotline will, in turn, either place the individual at a shelter, or if every shelter is full, they will place them in a motel for the night.
Individuals in need of shelter or more information about Code Blue, can call CONTACT of Burlington County at (856) 234–8888 or (866) 234–5006.
