By ROBERT LINNEHAN | The Voorhees Sun
The way this season is going, the snow mountains at Eagle Plaza won’t be melted until about March when the weather starts to climb up to the 50s.
Department of Public Works employees piled up more snow in the plaza’s parking lot as some workers put in 20 straight hours to keep the roadways of Voorhees clear last week, Township Administrator Larry Spellman said.
The latest storm proved to be difficult, as the wetter, heavier snow felled several trees, tree limbs, and power lines throughout Voorhees, Spellman said.
Atlantic City Electric — which covers half the Voorhees power grid — reportedly had a tough go this past storm and many residents lost power for a number of hours, he said.
The past three storms have been once-in-a-century type events, Spellman said, more than anyone had planned across the state in regard to snow.
Obviously, the cleanup costs were more than the township had allocated in its budget, with each storm costing about $40,000 total to clean up.
Those costs included salt, maintenance of the snow trucks, manpower, and overtime, he said.
Luckily, the governor declared states of emergency during the first two storms, Spellman said, so the township will be able to apply for FEMA funding and hopefully be reimbursed for some of the cleanup costs.
“I assume Gov. Christie will declare this past storm a state of emergency as well,” he said.
It was a difficult cleanup, with another foot of snow piling on top of the previous amount, Spellman said, but the DPW employees put in another spirited effort and were able to keep the township roadways clear throughout the entire event.
Most of the employees worked 20 or more hours straight, Spellman said, and came back to municipal hall where cots had been set up for them to get some rest.
Most went right back out to the job after catching a quick nap, he said.
“A lot of people lost power in Voorhees, and one of our streets is still closed. We had a few downed trees and downed wires on that street,” he said. “We had a lot of practice plowing the township roads this year. Our guys have taken great pride in cleaning those up and we got most of the work finished.
“We had to cancel trash pickup on Wednesday and Thursday, but we’re rushing to get that done now.”
The township’s emergency management coordinator reported no serious accidents or issues, Spellman said.
However, Voorhees did open its emergency center shelters for people who were displaced by the storm or had lost power.
Spellman said he was unaware of anyone who took advantage of the service.
Despite the difficult conditions, Spellman said the DPW employees deserved the vast majority of credit for keeping Voorhees safe throughout the blizzards.
“Our guys really worked hard out there. We take them for granted, but I’m not out there with them. I’m home, I was warm, but those guys are out there without their families and they just really put in a lot of time and effort,” he said. “Plowing is a real skill, you can’t just take a plow and go out there and have success. Our guys are a really a seasoned crew.”
