Sunday, November 13, 2011
Village officials share some additional information about October’s snowstorm.
On October 29, an earlier than usual snowstorm blanketed the East Coast; millions of people were left without power. In South Orange, thousands of homes were left without power while nearly the entire town was affected by falling trees and debris. The power outages were caused by the debris. In addition to the outages, other village services were interrupted. Leaf pickup has been delayed until more branches can be cleaned up. Following the storm, the South Orange Department of Public Works (DPW), Police Department and Fire Department spent days cleaning up. The damage was deemed much worse than expected, topping the damage caused by Hurricane Irene from a month earlier. Officials state that DPW has already collected almost 50% more …
Friday, November 4, 2011
The struggles of one family that's still in the dark.
On Saturday, an earlier than usual snowstorm blanketed the East Coast, leaving millions of people without power. In South Orange, 6,000 homes were affected by falling trees and debris that took down power lines and caused havoc in the town. Six days later, 800 homes were still in the dark. Theo Lubke, a resident of the Montrose section of South Orange, lives with his wife and three kids, aged 10, 8 and 18 months. Their home lost power at approximately 1 p.m. on Saturday when a tree fell on the power lines in their back yard. Six days later, those power lines are still dangling. “We have been without heat; our food spoiled days ago; we have no telephone service and we are getting by only with the support of friends and family,” wrote …
Thursday, November 3, 2011
An update from the Village of South Orange and Office of Emergency Management.
The latest official word from PSE&G, as of this morning, accounted for 800 customers without power in South Orange. After speaking with County and State officials, we have managed to get confirmation that certain areas in town, including, but not limited to, sections of Newstead, Montrose, South Orange Avenue, Tuxedo Park, Propsect Street and North Wyoming Avenue are being worked on today. The Village will keep close track of these repairs and all of the others that we have on file and that PSE&G has on file through both individual inspections from the Village and word from residents. Additionally, because there are so many individual homes without power in South Orange in particular, we have been guaranteed specially detailed PSE&G …
Conservancy needs volunteers Nov. 6 to help remove branches and trees near Forest Preserve.
- VOLUNTEERS IN THE NEWS
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Thursday, November 3, 2011
Editor's note: The following is an announcement from the South Mountain Conservancy. WE URGENTLY NEEDS YOUR HELP. If you have walked in the Reservation this past week, you know the freak October snowstorm has been a disaster with hundreds if not thousands of trees losing limbs, or toppling completely. It has caused the greatest damage to the forest in anyone's memory. We need volunteers to help in the cleanup before the weather turns colder. The County barely has the manpower to provide triage across the park system and just recently cleared Crest Drive. This Sunday, forecast to be sunny and in the 50s, come and lend a hand. Bring pruners, loppers, a chainsaw if you have one, and your friends (over 15 years or older). Meet at the dog park …
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Still waiting to hear from the local chambers of commerce regarding Halloween events....
The robocalls and e-mail messages are coming through: No school tomorrow for the South Orange-Maplewood School District. A teacher who declined to be named remarked, "No school on Halloween! This is a teacher's dream come true!" The full e-mail message from Superintendent of School Dr. Brian Osborne read: Due to down power lines throughout South Orange and Maplewood, and hazardous conditions persisting from yesterday's storm, all South Orange-Maplewood schools are closed tomorrow, October 31, 2011. Offices will remain open and twelve month employees will have a regular working day. As of right now, the Maplewood Chamber of Commerce reports that the Halloween Parade & Costume Contest in Maplewood Village is on. They will consult with …
Storm causes outages, downed trees. Torpey updates. Library to open early.
10:45 Update: South Orange officials announced that the South Orange Public Library will be opening today from 12-5. The library, which usually opens at 2 p.m. on Sundays, will be available for residents who need to charge cell phones, tablets, laptops and other devices. 10:30 Update: Alex Torpey updated his statement. "There are still trees down on power lines, and all residents are advised to be extremely cautious and stay away from downed power lines, and contact the Police Department and PSEG immediately," wrote Torpey. "Our crews are looking to get all roads open and passable right away before any general cleanup takes place." Mother Nature was disguised as winter this Halloween weekend as a rare October snowstorm pummeled …
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Gov has concern over severe weather conditions.
- NEWS
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Saturday, October 29, 2011
From the office of Governor Chris Christie: Governor Chris Christie today declared a state of emergency throughout the state as a result of severe weather conditions across the state including high winds, rain, snow, and mixed freezing precipitation, coastal, stream and river flooding, downed trees and power lines, that threaten the public’s health and safety. Governor Christie urged New Jerseyans to stay off of the roadways until conditions improve. The adverse conditions caused by the storm have resulted in over 60 incidents on roadways and 20 full road closures so far. "As we move through the worst part of this storm, I am urging all New Jerseyans to avoid unnecessary risks in severe weather like this and stay off the roadways …
Accumulation of 6 to 10 inches possible. NJT suspends service
7:30 Update: Governor Chris Christie has declared a statewide state of emergency. 6:30 Update: Residents are reporting that PSE&G's emergency call line has been getting a busy signal for several hours now. 4:45 Update: Alex Torpey tells Patch that residents should stay off the roads. "Lots and lots of trees are down," Alex Torpey said while at the South Orange Rescue Squad. "Maybe even more than the hurricane." 4:20 Update: Paul Walker, a senior meteorologist for AccuWeather.com, told Patch’s Joshua Wilwohl by phone that the New York metropolitan area and New Jersey will see rain with a mix of snow through Saturday night, "We could be looking at a coating of an inch or two in (New York and Newark, New Jersey's largest city)." He said …
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Got some snowy day pictures you want to share? Upload them here
The big news last night, of course, was the snow. Kids in the crowd at the South Orange girls basketball game cheered as loudly, if not more so, for the news of a snow day that came via text during the game than when their team scored. Public works crews had their jobs cut out for them overnight. Within an hour and a half of the beginning of the snowfall, some cars, had trouble getting traction and getting up South Orange Avenue. By 11:15 p.m., plows were rumbling up and down the Avenue and traffic was moving better. But the snow kept coming and so did the plows. This morning's sun made the snow sparkle and the icicles drip. Early morning sledders did their best to flatten the fluffy stuff to make for faster sledding later today. Some …
Library to host MLK program with open mic on Thursday
The South Orange Public Library will present Youth Reflections on the Legacy of MLK on Thursday. Amir Billups, a former SOPL page and Columbia High School Graduate, who started the MLK program as a high school student several years ago, returns as a history teacher in Newark with a presentation and an open mic session for those who have songs, poetry or prose inspired by slain civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Specifically what I want to do is take the audience back to the era of the ‘60s and the last few years of MLK’s life and focus on some of this messages beyond the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech,” Billups said. “I want to take a look at some of his commentary on the direction of the country at the time and open it up for …
Mindy Brown
11:22 am on Saturday, November 5, 2011
I asked the PSE&G and Georgia power guys in Montrose whether they do any "preventive" tree cutting around wires, and whether this wouldn't be less expensive than all the overtime. They said they'd do it in a minute if their companies would allow it, but they don't. It would cost $6000 per tree to trim the large ones in our neighbor's yard that impinge on our house. more ›