Berkeley Heights, Mountainside Continue Storm Clean-Up

Crews in the townships of Berkeley Heights and Mountainside are continuing work to restore conditions to their pre-Irene state, and are getting closer to accomplishing that goal.

In Berkeley Heights, Police Lieutenant Frank Fortunato stated that a tree and utility pole have been removed from Deep Dale Road at Mountain Avenue, allowing for residents to get to and from their homes. In addition, power in the downtown area of the township has been restored, and businesses are operating in full.

Some roads still remain closed, however; Diamond Hill Road is still closed southbound at Valley Road, as is Springfield Avenue at Robbins Avenue, still making travel to New Providence difficult for the time being.

There are other hurricane-related problems within the township that need to be solved, such as power outages in neighborhoods such as Hampton Drive and Sutton Drive. There have also been water main breaks at Kline Place and Maple Avenue within the past 24 hours.

Not expected to be an issue, however, is any further flooding of the Passaic River, which has been receding since Sunday.

“(It is receding) slowly, but it is receding,” said Fortunato. “It seems to be a slow process at this point.”

Fortunato asks that residents are patient while township officials work toward restoring conditions to normal.

“Now, it’s pretty much just waiting for the water to go down and people being patient for the power to come back,” said Fortunato.

In Mountainside, similar progress is being made. Flooding no longer remains a major issue in Mountainside, although water levels remain high in nearby rivers and streams.

“So far, on all of our roads, any flooding that there was has subsided,” said Police Lieutenant Alan Attanasio.

According to Attanasio, power has been restored to several areas, including the downtown area near Mountain Avenue and New Providence Road. This has allowed for the intersection of those two roads, as well as one lane in each direction on Summit Road, to be re-opened.

In addition, Coles Avenue, Tracy Drive, Cherry Hill Road, and Central Avenue have all been re-opened, and Mill Lane is expected to re-open shortly.

Still temporary closed due to downed trees, though, are Wood Valley Road, Grouse Lane, Ledgewood Road, and Old Tote Road between Wood Valley Road and Stony Brook Lane. In many of these cases, trees are down on power lines, and cannot be removed until power companies can assure Precision Tree Service workers that the lines are not live.

“We are somewhat hampered by trees that are laying on power lines. They can’t touch them until the power company ensures that no current is going through the line,” said Attanasio. “PSE&G is working as quickly as they can with their limited staff.”

Attanasio continues to encourage Mountainside residents to look for updates regarding storm clean-up by using the Union County First Alert system, which the department has been utilizing to prevent residents from tying up the department’s phone lines with general information questions.

“Just as our patrol sees them working on an area, we put it out on First Alert,” said Attanasio. “If they call the police desk, they’ll be told we don’t know (when that area will be cleared), and they’ll be tying up the emergency and non-emergency lines for people who have real emergencies.”

Looting has been occurring in nearby townships, such as Cranford and Springfield, but both lieutenants report that no such incidents have occurred in either Berkeley Heights or Mountainside as of yet. If there are any incidents, however, both encourage residents to contact their respective police department immediately.

“They should call the police department if they do see something like that, and we’ll deal with it as needed,” said Fortunato.

“Call the police immediately, and we will take care of it,” added Attanasio. “That’s not something we’ll stand for.”