The Blizzard That Fizzled

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By John Burton
The snowstorm that threatened to be a “historic blizzard” didn’t pack the kind of wallop that was initially feared but that was all right with many who were preparing for the worst.
With forecasters calling for two or more feet of snow, Monday was a time for preparation and planning, ensuring that Monmouth County and local government, as well as private businesses were ready to respond and life would return to normal as quickly as possible.
David Robinson, the state climatologist, at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, said on Monday the storm certainly had the potential to be a full-blown blizzard with high winds and steady, heavy snowfall, and being the most severe winter storm since December 2010.
But Mother Nature played a fast one on New Jersey, giving the coastal area a mere 8 to 10 inches instead of the original forecast.
“It went great!” Monmouth County Freeholder Thomas Arnone maintained unequivocally about how workers addressed the storm warning and its aftermath.
Arnone, who oversees the county public works and engineering, said on Wednesday, workers had pre-treated the approximately 1,000 miles of county roadway with a brine mixture to melt ice and snow. “And that was a really big benefit post storm,” Arnone said. “As you can see most of our roads are down to the payment” cleared of snow and ice.
When the storm warning was first announced, it was all hands on deck for Public Works, with other employees from departments like Division of Shade Tree and elsewhere jumping to the ready, according to Arnone.
The Monmouth County Sheriff’s Department increased patrols Monday night to ensure public safety in inclement weather and to enforce the travel ban enacted by Gov. Chris Christie earlier that day, according to Cynthia Scott, the department’s public information officer.
Having the roads largely vacant helped county snowplows to move more effectively, Arnone said.
“In general, we’ve heard no complaints,” Arnone said, and operations ran “like a machine.”
“I think everybody is very pleased,” he said.
Certainly Fair Haven Mayor Benjamin Lucarelli seemed pleased with response, preparation and the thankfully less ferocious storm.
“By and large we were ready,” Lucarelli said. “If the 3 feet had come, we were ready and the fact that it didn’t come meant the guys had less work and we spent less overtime.”
Public Works employees, using some additional part-time licensed workers had been able to keep the plows running during the storm, keeping the roads clear. Like their county counterparts, Lucarelli said, borough workers had pre-treated the roadways with a brine solution to melt ice and snow.
In addition, volunteer firefighters and First Aid Squad members were on call, staying at their River Road headquarters throughout the night, in case they were needed. But there were no emergency calls, he said.
“We were pretty lucky,” he contended.
Red Bank officials had taken a number of steps just in case, said Mayor Pasquale Menna. They included shutting down Broad Street to vehicle traffic as of 1 a.m. Tuesday; closing municipal parking lots by 10 p.m., Monday; and notifying residents who had previously signed up by text and email about moving vehicles off of roadways to allow for snowplowing; and had employees from Red Bank Recycling available to assist Public Works if the storm warranted, Menna said.
“We had everything under control. Everybody seemed to cooperate,” he observed.
Menna had asked restaurants and bars to voluntarily close by 10 p.m. in hopes of getting parked cars out of the way for plows. Some of those businesses balked about the prospect of losing the night’s business, which usually happens when this occurs, Menna said. “People were upset, thinking they were going to make hundreds of thousands of dollars on a storm night,” he countered.
For Sea Bright, “From the perspective of having a storm it was excellent,” offered C. Read Murphy, Sea Bright’s Office of Emergency Management manager.
There were fears of coastal flooding with this storm. But Murphy said there was the usual amount, what Murphy called “minor,” on side streets for such weather.
The only major disruption was having to move fire and emergency equipment to Long Branch for Monday night, in case of flooding, Murphy said.
Residents adhered to the no travel ban as well as moved their vehicles off of the narrow side streets allowing the plow trucks to access the road, he said.
“The 10 inches of whatever we had, we got rid of it real quick,” Murphy said, calling the storm “another non-event for Sea Bright.”
SeaSteak commuter ferry, which operates terminals out of Highlands and Atlantic Highlands, starting on Monday “took a cautious approach,” ending service on Monday earlier than usual, said Brett Chamberlain, director of marketing.
Ridership was down on Monday, given that some probably stayed home at the prospect of their children’s early school dismissal, he said.
Service was canceled on Tuesday. “We were immediately up and back to our regular schedule Wednesday morning with no problems,” he said.
Also back on the job by Wednesday morning were Comcast cable television workers. One technician said linemen have the toughest of jobs. “They’re outside and climbing to the tops of poles in this kind of weather,” he noted. “If there are ice buildups or weight on the cables they’re the ones who have to get it done.”
Speaking of the weather, “Hopefully, that’ll be the end of it,” for this winter, Menna wished.
Muriel Smith, correspondent, contributed to this report.
John Burton can be reached at jburton@tworivertimes.com.