Floodwaters may be receding in Bloomfield after the wrath of Hurricane Irene dumped almost nine inches of rain around the state, damaging trees and breaking branches and making a muddy mess of the township. Residents in the Halcyon Park section of the township have exemplified what being neighborly is all about after Irene caused a tree to fall at 74 Florence Ave. cutting power to homes on the block and causing damage to a transformer. So, in a crisis, neighbors did what neighbors do best -- they banded together and began sharing portable generators so they could run sump pumps and begin …
Businesses struggling to clean up after Irene may be eligible for assistance services offered by the NJ Business Action Center. The services include: 1. Access to lines of credit of up to $500,000 for businesses that need access to cash to improve their damaged property while awaiting insurance proceeds. 2. Grant awards for businesses to assist with on-the-job training costs for new workers hired specifically to assist in disaster-related activities, such as landscaping and tree removal, construction, insurance claims, building supplies sales, materials transport, utility work, call and …
[Updated 4 p.m. Tuesday]: PSE&G continues to make progress helping customers regain their electricity in the wake of Hurricane Irene, according to company officials.PSE&G spokesperson Bonnie Sheppard now says 74,000 residents remain remain without power throughout the state with 9,000 outages in Essex County after the weekend hurricane downed trees and power lines and damaged property with hurricane-force winds. That 74,000 figure is down from a high of approximately 375,000 outages reported at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday by the utility. Sheppard was unable to give a town-by-town breakdown of the …
State officials have asked President Barack Obama to quickly declare New Jersey to be a major disaster area after Hurricane Irene ravaged the state with dangerous winds and torrents of rain this weekend. This would enable for the federal government via the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to assist state and local administrations and affected residents. Governor Chris Christie, U.S. Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ), as well as Rep. William Pascrell Jr. led the effort, according to press releases from their offices. "Hurricane Irene was a catastrophe of …
Updated: Monday, 6 p.m. Train service to New York City will begin to resume on Tuesday after NJ Transit suspended rail service Monday because of damage caused from Hurricane Irene. NJ Transit and DeCamp provided bus service during the Monday commute. The New York subway system was partially restored. PATH trains were running. NJ Transit bus service is operating a modified weekday schedule on Monday, with fewer trips operating during peak periods on some routes. NJ TRANSIT is advising customers of the following for today: Rail Service: Northeast Corridor: Trains are expected to operate between…
Editor's Note: Bloomfield Patch freelancer Michelle Lee is a resident of the Troy Towers apartment complex in Bloomfield. She agreed to share her thoughts about what she saw earlier today and the damage left behind by the storm. Hurricane Irene unleashed her heavy winds and rains last night and I could hear the steady pounding on my apartment windows throughout the dark. The glass panes held steady and the electricity stayed on. But the real trouble started the morning after, once the heart of the storm left town. I woke up to a choir of car alarms. I took a look out the windows at Watsessing…
