Toms River and Irene: No Fatalities, 17K Without Power, Waterfronts Flood

 is still an issue.  has been out for more than a day. Three sites shelter about 500 evacuees. Untold number of people evacuated their homes and businesses on the barrier island.

Live wires and fallen trees littered the township as firefighters and Shade Tree Commission staff rev up chainsaws to clear from roads.

Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Paul Daley said those are the main issues Toms River faced during and immediately after Hurricane Irene.

There were no fatalities as a result of the storm in Toms River, he said. Not even a major injury, he said.

There were two working fires, said Toms River Police Chief Michael Mastronardy. Flooding rescue and evacuation in Mobile Home Park. Rivers and backbays overtake their banks and bulkheads. Police direct traffic at intersections such as Route 9 and Cox Cro as traffic lights fail.

“All priority issues, all live wires, they are all addressed,” Daley said. Next: clearing “nuisance trees” that fell, and continued monitoring of waterfront, backbays, rivers.

“Flooding is starting to recede some, but there’s another tide coming at 6 though,” Mastronardy said Sunday afternoon. At 8 p.m. Sunday, the northern branch of the Toms River affected along the Whitesville and Route 571 area that bordered that branch of the river.

Daley said JCP&L has hundreds of thousands without power statewide. In Toms River, more than 15,000 were powerless on Sunday. At 8 a.m. Monday however, JCP&L is reporting 17,539 are without power. Daley said he’s been told it can take five days to restore power. He noticed some areas of the power grid that were offline now have power restored.

“The power grid is complex. You can’t say matter of factly that an entire neighborhood or even a street is without power,” Daley said. “You may have power but your neighbor across the street could not, that’s the power grid.”

ShopRite on Fischer and Bay reported they were without power Sunday. Police headquarters on Oak Avenue was without power, operating on back-up systems a portion of Sunday.

Daley said a of the barrier island is no longer being observed locally. Local officials are allowing residents of Ortley Beach and other barrier island communities to go over the Route 37 east Mathis Bridge to Seaside.

“We are closely monitoring that,” Daley said. “You may be asked to provide identification to patrol officers as to why you are there.”

No reports of looting, Daley said.

The is now disabled but “we just flip a switch to reactivate it if we need to,” Daley said. Three shelters began to close operations noon Sunday. Overnight, only was in place to house 11 residents displaced by flooding in Homestead Run, he said.

Winds and rain no longer an issue, Daley said the piles of paperwork will begin.

“We move to damage assessment for the township,” he said. “I also handle insurance for the township, and seeking FEMA reimbursement for expenses.”

The bureaucracy stretches on, as the effects of planning for and tending to a hurricane emergency end up as line items and spreadsheets.

“Once storm is over, my work really begins,” he said.“

Daley applauded volunteers on the Community Emergency Response Team, or CERT, who led shelter operations at the three shelters: Toms River High School , and Intermediate North.

“24 hours a day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner,” Daley said. “They set up everything…The CERT team was unbelievable.”

More than 100 volunteers were a part of the effort. CERT members receive special training in first aid and other tasks to assist during events such as the hurricane, he said.

“They were amazing,” Daley said. “What a team they were.”

He applauded the partnerships and coordination he saw between volunteers, police, fire, EMS, residents, and officials at all levels of government.

“It’s not over,” Daley said. “We’re still actively patrolling, power is still out. There is lots to do.”