Hurricane Irene

Two natural disasters in 1 week how can this be!! We knew hurricane Irene was coming for us.  Josh prepared us as much as we can but we knew this could do some serious damage to our basement that Josh has beautifully re finished.  I couldn't keep my eyes off the news.  I felt lilke I was just waiting for Irene to hit, it was a very eri feeling.  Josh and I tired to stay up but fell alseep around midmight on August 27th.  People were evacuated from Cape May down to Jersery City.  Josh woke up at 1:30 AM and it started overflowing in our basement.  He was up from 1:30-12 noon the next day vaccumming and dumping 5 gallons of water every 10 mins.  I woke up at 5 AM & helped out as much as I can.  What a night!  It was a week and people are still trying to re cover.  A friend of mine in the next town over got 6 feet of water in her basement, her washer was floating.  We didn't lose power which was good, my mother & sister did.  My mother in law lost it for 2-3 days.  Some of the pictures I see online is sad.  This was nothing like Katrina but in some parts this was pretty bad.  Lucky I have a smart husband who right after built a sump pump in the ground because a few days agter it rained for 3 days straight.

Hurricane Irene (2011)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search



This article is about the hurricane of 2011. For other storms of the same name, see Tropical Storm Irene.


Hurricane Irene Category 3 hurricane (SSHS)




Hurricane Irene over the southern Bahamas on August 24

Formed August 20, 2011

Dissipated August 29, 2011

Highest winds 1-minute sustained:

120 mph (195 km/h)

Lowest pressure 942 mbar (hPa; 27.82 inHg)

Fatalities 55 total

Damage $10.1 billion (2011 USD)

Areas affected Lesser Antilles, Greater Antilles, Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, eastern United States (Landfalls in North Carolina, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York), eastern Canada

Part of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season



Hurricane Irene was a large and powerful Atlantic hurricane of the 2011 season that left extensive flood and wind damage along its path through the Caribbean, the United States East Coast and as far north as Atlantic Canada in 2011. The ninth named storm, first hurricane and first major hurricane of that season, Irene formed from a well-defined Atlantic tropical wave that showed signs of organization east of the Lesser Antilles. It developed atmospheric convection and a closed cyclonic circulation center, prompting the National Hurricane Center to initiate public advisories on the tropical cyclone late on August 20, 2011. Subsequent convective organization occurred as it passed the Leeward Islands, and by August 21, it moved very close to Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The next day Irene made landfall at hurricane strength near Puerto Rico, where high winds and intermittent torrents caused significant property damage.



Irene tracked just north of Hispaniola as an intensifying Category 1 hurricane, skirting the coast with heavy precipitation and strong winds that killed several people. After crossing the Turks and Caicos Islands, the hurricane quickly strengthened into a Category 3 major hurricane while passing through The Bahamas,[1] leaving behind a trail of extensive structural damage in its wake. Curving toward the north, Irene skirted past Florida with its outer bands producing tropical-storm-force winds. It made landfall over Eastern North Carolina's Outer Banks on the morning of August 27, and moved along southeastern Virginia, affecting the Hampton Roads region.[2]



After briefly reemerging over water, Irene made second U.S. landfall near Little Egg Inlet in New Jersey the morning of August 28, becoming the first hurricane to make landfall in the state since 1903.[3][4] Irene was downgraded to a tropical storm as it made its third U.S. landfall in the Coney Island area of Brooklyn, New York, at approximately 9:00 a.m on August 28. Considerable damage occurred in eastern upstate New York[5] and Vermont, which suffered from the worst flooding in centuries.[6]



Throughout its path, Irene caused widespread destruction and at least 55 deaths; monetary losses in the Caribbean could be as high as US$3.1 billion according to preliminary estimates.[7] Early damage estimates in the U.S. are about $10–15 billion.[8]


CRANFORD — Jim Masterson, did not spend his 52nd birthday relaxing or eating cake, but instead cleaning out his recently flooded basement.




Masterson’s birthday is Aug. 29, landing just one day after Hurricane Irene inundated the town of Cranford, and the Masterson family’s basement, with flood water.



Masterson lives with his wife, Susan, and daughter, Rachel, 21, in their home on Mansion Terrace, which the family evacuated the previous afternoon due to flood waters reaching the ceiling of their basement and a troubling, creaking tree in their backyard, products of Irene.

“The water kept rising and rising,” Jim said in an in-person interview. “The river took over the neighborhood.”



The Masterson family, as well as much of Cranford, saw an unprecedented amount of flooding, even when compared to other recent hurricanes.



“Hurricane Floyd was not even a tenth of this,” said Rachel.



However, thankfully for the Masterson family and many other families in their neighborhood, the water had receded by Monday morning, leaving the Mastersons’ basement free of residual flood water and allowing those who were affected to return to their homes to begin cleanup.



The Masterson family’s story was not uncommon in Cranford in Irene’s aftermath. Like the Masterson family, many of Cranford’s 2,000 residents in the town’s significant flood zone were ordered to evacuate by the Cranford Police Department, but elected to remain in their homes as long as possible so that they were not left unattended.



Cranford’s evacuation center, the Community Center, saw a peak of about 30 evacuees, according to Cranford Police Lieutenant Jim Wozniak. However, it is believed that many ultimately fled their homes to stay with friends or families in neighboring towns.



The hurricane, called the “worst storm in [Cranford’s] history,” by Cranford Mayor Dan Aschenbach, left many Cranford homes flooded and 60,000 PSE&G customers in Union County without power.



According to Wozniak, the Cranford Police, with assistance from the New Jersey State Police’s marine division, Tasks Force One, made 150 to 175 water rescues throughout the town of Cranford, some of which were from second stories of homes.



Approximately half a dozen Cranford homes thus far have been found to have lost their foundations and are currently uninhabitable, according to Wozniak.



Additionally, the site of the controversial proposed Birchwood Avenue property also saw “major flooding,” according to Cranford Commissioner Ed O’Malley, confirming the Township Commission’s assertion that the property would flood in the event of severe weather.



In addition to numerous homes and businesses throughout Cranford, the Cranford Municipal Building was evacuated midday on Sunday, Aug. 28, forcing the Police Department to transfer operations to a mobile command post which was supplied by the Union County Office of Emergency Management (“OEM”) and had been prepared for such an occurrence.



The flooding of the Municipal Building did, however, continue to hinder Police Department operations.



“The biggest devastating blow to us was the loss of our Municipal Building,” said Wozniak. “That’s what really put us in dire straits.”

Wozniak explained the Cranford Municipal Building had flooded before, but not to the extent that it did last weekend.



In addition to the assistance received from the OEM and NJ State Police, the Cranford Police Department also received help from the Union County Police Department, which provided a variety of equipment, including light poles, generators, and traffic signs.



FEMA has not yet provided any assistance to Cranford. However, according to a Union County press release, FEMA is still currently collecting information on damage wrought by Irene and will publicize how to register for assistance once that stage has been completed.



In order for municipalities in New Jersey to apply for FEMA assistance programs, the state would have to be declared a “disaster area” by President Obama, according to Bill McDonald of FEMA external affairs.



New Jersey was eligible for pre-landfall disaster relief to provide emergency protective measures, McDonald explained. However, the President has yet to declare New Jersey a disaster area as municipalities are still gathering information on the extent of damages.

Cranford Police Chief Eric Mason stated that the Township of Cranford submitted a report of damages to Union County on Wednesday, Aug. 31. The report will then move to the state and federal levels to help determine the need for funding.



O’Malley said he anticipates and hopes that once the state is declared a disaster area, Cranford will receive FEMA funding, as the township has insufficient financial resources to recover from the flood.



“This catastrophe hits us when we have zero fund balance,” O’Malley said. “It’s crazy, in this kind of emergency, to be dealing with those kinds of issues, but that’s where we are in 2011.”



Wozniak said the police department’s current goal is cleaning up the township. This includes working with the Department of Public Works to first coordinate the cleaning out of debris to make it easier for other cleanup operations.



Helping those who have seen significant damage to their homes is the Cranford Police Department’s number one priority and the department plans to send people door-to-door around Cranford to check on residents, Wozniak explained.

“We’re going to do everything we can to help them through it,” Wozniak said. “We’re going to make sure anything they need, they’re going to get.”



According to Mason, approximately 4,500 Cranford residents remained without power as of Aug. 31. However, Mason expects power to be fully restored some time between Sept. 3 and 5.



Those who currently need a basement pump-out can contact the Cranford Fire Department at 908-709-7360 or 907- 276-0146. Individuals interested in assisting Cranford residents affected by the flood can call 908-276-0146 to sign up to volunteer, according to Cranford’s website.



While Irene’s effects will continue to be felt for some time, with many still in the dark, roads and sidewalks damaged, and the threat of moldy basements persisting, efforts to restore normalcy in Cranford are underway.



Despite the ferocity of Irene, many residents are trying to look for reasons to be positive, remaining appreciative that the effects were not any worse and that no serious injuries or fatalities were reported in response to the storm in Cranford.



For Jim Masterson, there was still reason to be grateful on his birthday.



“The birthday present is that I didn’t come home to a basement full of water,” Jim said. “You start to look at things relatively, and I’m grateful for that.”