Califon, NJ – At the Borough Mayor & Council meeting held Tuesday night, July 14th, a lengthy discussion on emergency operations, severe thunderstorm response and utilities' restoration by carried many positive sentiments and a collective sigh of relief for the fairly good shape the borough was kept it throughout.
The most severe of the storms late in the evening on Sunday, July 5th delivered dangerous rain sweeping “sideways” according to Califon Mayor Charles Daniel. It also involved some degree of flash flooding and damage to five local properties, said Borough Fire Chief Liam Morris.
Five separate structures within Califon sustained some damage; four were residential and one is a mixed-use, commercial/residential property where a tree came down and did some damage.
“Basically from the storms they were all cosmetic and on the exterior; there was nothing that structurally compromised any of these buildings. While it isn't ideal for trees to come down, given the storm situation, we all made out very fortunate throughout Califon. Really the biggest concern that night (July 5th) was the section of Academy Street we did not have access to, God forbid something were to happen, whether a medical or fire emergency, But thankfully no one was displaced from their home, and there were no injuries to anyone in the public or the fire service/EMS, and this response was a successful operation,” he explained. Some of the Council members spoke about the very large trees that were downed due to the storm, and Chief Morris confirmed one of the big pine trees was massive and going down, it did a lot of damage.
Mayor Daniel shared his experience from the night of July 5th and throughout the next few days. “It seemed the Fire Company, led by our Chief Morris, immediately set up a command center at the firehouse. I think we were there for two to three hours (until about 12:30 a.m.), and the guys did an excellent job just getting an idea of what was going on, and whether there were any structural damages and/or injuries to anyone, and what roads were closed. There was a great turnout of volunteer firefighters and First Aid personnel. They were proactive in just keeping tabs and notifying the Hunterdon County Division of Emergency Management of it.”
On Monday July 6th there was one lane of Academy Street reopened for traffic, so emergency vehicles had access throughout town. He also reported the activity from the bridge up to 2nd Street as there were more JCP &L repair crews' operations overnight. By Tuesday morning, July 7th, traffic flow had returned to normal.
Mayor Daniel routinely joins the conference calls with JCP & L leadership and the northern New Jersey mayors. He joined the many compliments of other Hunterdon County mayors and on behalf of Califon, Daniel praised Amy Overman, local engagement specialist and external affairs officer for the utilities provider, as she communicated clearly and helped manage the concerns raised during the storms' response and follow-up with municipalities. The Borough government is regularly updated by JCP & L and Overman plays a key role as a liaison whenever needed, the mayor noted.
“Most mayors have nothing but praise for Amy, and she does a really good job of coordinating JCP & L resources. I have to say in terms of Califon, I sent her a note and thanked her because I believe we had really fast turnaround (with the power restored) except for two homes. By Tuesday July 7th around noon, almost all of Califon had the power back on whereas other municipalities still faced problems (a week ago). The JCP & L website for Hunterdon County listed us with the data of how many residents and businesses rely on the utility for power, and of those how many had the power out – Califon ranked 3rd on the list (for least outages). By Monday morning, July 6th, just 22% of the town was 'out' but by Tuesday it was less than 2% – JCP & L moved pretty quickly for us,” the mayor said.
Califon Borough Council President Mike Medea said he was away during most of the Fourth of July weekend, but he returned home on Sunday, July 5th shortly before the hammering rain came down on the borough. He followed the mayor's comments on JCP & L's outstanding service to restore power by noting that after the July 3rd evening storms, in some municipalities there were around 200,000 people without power. He mentioned that one of the hardest hit areas was Harding Township in Morris County.
Councilman Leo Janas said he too was away for the Fourth of July weekend and did not come back the day the heaviest storm hit. Janas was thankful he stayed out of the area – on his driveway, two large branches of trees on the property came down, in the exact spot where he usually parks his car.
Check out all the discussion on the severe storms' response earlier this month, as well as information and agenda items at last night's Borough Council meeting as TAPInto North Hunterdon provides video coverage of .