By all accounts, Evesham Township got off pretty easy in the wake of Hurricane Irene this weekend, according to township representatives. The category one hurricane came and went Saturday night into early Sunday morning, but didn’t cause as much damage as originally estimated.
The Evesham Township Office of Emergency Management reported Monday morning that there were no reported injuries or deaths in the township due to the hurricane. However, there are still many residents in the township without power, according to Lt. Carl Bittenbender of the OES.
Evesham Fire-Rescue handled approximately 80 fire and emergency medical services calls in the 24-hour period from 5 p.m. Saturday to 5 p.m. Sunday. Evesham Police responded to approximately 130 calls for service during this period as well, representatives reported.
On many of these calls, police and fire units were assisted by responders from the Evesham Township Department of Public Works who cleared trees, barricaded flooded roadways and ensured that storm drains were clear of debris, Bittenbender said. There was no need for shelters to be established by the Evesham school district, as the Burlington County OEM opened a regional shelter at the Chairville School in Medford. The Evesham OEM was not aware of any Evesham Residents evacuating to the Chairville School.
There was flooding during the storm, Bittenbender said, but so far the waters have receded. The high waters have subsided with only two known road closures remaining in Evesham Township. Kenilworth Road is closed at the stream coming from the old Kenilworth Lake. The closure splits the road in half, representative said, and drivers can access each end of the road from either Tomlinson Mill Road or Braddock’s Mill Road. In this same area of the township, Flamingo Road is closed at the dam.
In his storm wrap up report, Bittenbender said social media was utilized extensively to communicate with residents. The OEM pushed storm-related information out to the fire department Web site at www.eveshamfire.org. That same information was copied and published at www.evesham-nj.gov and abbreviated information was posted on the Evesham Police and Evesham Fire Department’s Facebook sites.
Any additional incident, residents should call the township’s department of public works at 983–2798.
