Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh officially lifted West Windsor’s state of emergency following Hurricane Irene on Wednesday, August 31, but the township is still feeling the after effects of the storm that ravaged other parts of New Jersey. Mayor Hsueh said 10 homes at lower Fisher Place had still not recovered. Around West Windsor fire companies pumped out the basements of 72 residences.
A top priority going forward will be consideration of purchasing a generator for the senior center, possibly to be included on the budget for next year, the mayor said at the September 6 meeting of Council. “In terms of senior communities we will be talking to the civic associations to make sure we can share some responsibility to residents. Through this storm I found that the Estates at Princeton Junction was the only management that really communicated with the township,” he said.
Police Chief Joe Pica said basically any road in proximity to water experienced major flooding. Preventive measures are called for, so Pica recommended that housing developments have a backup generator installed for at least the club house building. With one location where residents can gather, officials and police can then meet the public, communicate, and check the town’s status more efficiently.
JCP&L’s response to the power situation after Irene did not meet the expectations of the mayor or the police chief. Pica said that a substation on Route 130 was underwater after high water on Sunday night and it was understandable that operations were impacted. However by 5:30 Monday morning the water had receded. Pica says no action was taken during the day Monday, despite his visits to check in, and JCP&L was uncooperative in giving him information he could relay to the township.
“Every time I was there and I asked I was read a statement or a basic press release,” Pica said. He added that at first JCP&L gave a date of September 4 — one week after the hurricane — for power to be fully restored.
At the council meeting on August 30, Mayor Hsueh joked that finally by that afternoon the police chief had put enough pressure on JCP&L that power was restored shortly after, with most of it on by the next morning.
With some people basically stranded, the emergency shelters at the high schools served as a full-service refuge. Many people were able to charge their cell phones and laptops after they had lost power. Approximately 200 people in total came to use the high school showers during the state of emergency period. The mayor also extended his thanks to the Hyatt Regency which donated ice cubes, helping to preserve some much needed medication and insulin for those in need. He also thanked McCaffrey’s supermarket for donating food to the public, as many residents saw their refrigerators lose power.
The chief thanked all volunteers and Twin W responders who helped police in the response.
The mayor and the chief told Town Council about their visits to several area residents, including Fisher Place, where homes had six to eight feet of water in basements. The mayor mentioned one resident who was born in 1930 that told him Irene produced the worst rain he had ever seen.
