Madison Reviews Hurricane Response, Looks to Make Improvements

Madison’s Office of Emergency Management held a debriefing session August 30 to review the borough’s readiness and response to Hurricane Irene, and to identify areas where improvements are needed.

“Madison prides itself on its emergency preparedness and the professionalism of its Police, Fire, EMS, Health, Electric, Water and Public Works Departments,” said Bob Landrigan, Madison’s OEM Coordinator, in a release. “While it was critical that OEM and the Borough agencies met prior to the storm to identify areas of concern and plan our response, it was equally important that we met afterwards to evaluate that response and make constructive changes.”

Landrigan was joined in the debriefing by all borough department heads as well as Mayor Mary-Anna Holden, Council Member Jeannie Tsukamoto, Borough Administrator Ray Codey, Assistant Borough Administrator Jim Burnet, Borough Engineer Bob Vogel, Fire Chief Lou DeRosa, and OEM deputy coordinators Police Lt. Darren Dachisen and Ptl. Joe Longo.

Holden said that “[i]t was clear from the organizational meeting prior to Irene’s arrival that we were on our own.” The borough set up a watchlist and put equipment in place for the evening, such as a front-end loader at the library drainage ditch to try to periodically remove debris and stem flooding. 

Securing a regional shelter site was more challenging. as the borough was suddenly informed this would be done regionally “and we didn’t know where this ‘regional’ facility would be.  A total of 400 evacuees from the Atlantic City-area were being housed at Mennen Arena.

The Fire Department found a building with a generator, food-handling facilities, and an area for cots, at One Giralda Farms. Holden thanked Todd Rechler of Rexcorp for granting permission, and also thanked property manager Ty Leon. “Thanks to luck, not skill, we had the spa of shelters.  Fortunately, we did not have to use it.  But it is an area of weakness,” Holden said.

Holden called the Electric Utility and its workers a “godsend,” limiting borough power outages to short periods of time while neighboring communities were without power and water for nearly a week, in some cases.

The OEM and the Borough has worked up a list of key initiatives to be reviewed in the coming weeks.

“While always anticipated, it was shown that in a state-wide emergency such as Hurricane Irene, Madison must have a level of self-sufficiency until assistance can arrive, and that can be a day or longer,” Landrigan said.

The initiatives include:

• Communication with residents. Nixle messages and public service announcements helped reduce anxiety on the part of residents by keeping them abreast of storm events, the town’s response and status.  The borough will look to push Nixle out to more residents, continue to use it website, as well as continued coordination with the Board of Education’s communications system.

• Finalize plans for local shelters. While plans were formulated prior to the storm in response to outside resources being regionalized, the borough needs to be sure the sites that were originally identified are still fully functional (i.e. generators, food-handling facilities, handicap accessible). This will help ensure their availability to Madison residents during an emergency when access to a regional shelter may not be safe or possible.

• Ensure adequate staffing. While the town fared well and calls for assistance were addressed as quickly as possible, given the magnitude of the storm, assurance is needed well in advance that an adequate pool of responders will be available across all agencies for an extended period of time.  “Additionally, we must make sure adequate rest accommodations are available for these personnel as many worked throughout the night,” said Landrigan. 

• Storm Drains. Flooding was cited as the single greatest challenge throughout the storm. Plans call for mapping off problem private and public storm drains, working with the borough engineer to obtain access easements. The map will assure that these storm drains are on a checklist for cleaning by the Department of Public Works prior to an event. “In some cases, more than debris may need removal. In some instances we have found landscaping and outbuildings that has been placed over culverts and drainage swales.  These need to be addressed sooner rather than later,” Landrigan said.

• Sewerage Backups. Problem areas need to be aggressively addressed where residents are draining their sump pumps into sinks and overwhelming our pump stations, particularly the one at North Street, thus sending raw sewerage into their neighbors’ homes.

• Emergency Plans. Just as OEM will be reviewing Madison’s emergency plan across all agencies, OEM will be looking to ensure private entities within the borough have plans in place, such as senior housing and the library, for example.

     “We got a lot more right, than wrong,” Landrigan said, crediting the professionalism among the police, fire, ambulance, health, electric, water and public works departments. He added many responders left their families at home to be on call throughout the storm. “Madison fared as well as it did during, and now after the storm, in large part because of the preparation and hard work of these individuals.”

Landrigan said his immediate chore will be submitting paperwork to FEMA for damages and costs incurred during the storm.