By Walter Elliott
ESSEX – “Local Talk” area residents are finding their recovery experiences from Tropical Storm Ida’s damage, like car fuel mileage claims, vary.
One can still find water-damaged debris and possessions on curbsides, waiting for regular or special DPW pickup.
Bloomfield’s DPW, for instance, has been taking their township’s refuse to its Grove Street yard. The debris pile, which rose slightly above an adjacent temporary office trailer Sept. 12, was starting to shrink early Sept. 15.
Some businesses, school districts and residents – 15 days since Ida’s intense rainstorm and flooding Sept. 1 – are approaching a return to pre-Aug. 31 normality. Some others, however, are still dealing with displacement, damage assessment and bureaucracy.
Public schools within Local Talk territory have practically reopened to full-time in-person learning as of Sept. 13. It is the first time that students, teachers and staff have returned to personal five-day-a-week learning since a statewide COVID lockdown was imposed March 15, 2020.
Sept. 13 was when all 11 South Orange-Maplewood School District opened for all grade levels. The two-town district was to have a Sept. 9-10 staged “Back to School” days before Ida flooded or otherwise damaged some of its buildings.
Dr. Robert Taylor, after a briefing with his facilities team Sept. 6, turned his Sept. 2 “tentative” Monday reopening to “confirmed” Sept. 9. Teachers and staff were to report back to their buildings to finalize their 2021-22 school year preparations.
It is not immediately known if a shortage of SOMSD school buses, due to flood damage along the Rahway River East Branch, caused any Monday delays.
Maplewood police chief Jim DeVaul said he had issued curbside parking passes to those SOMSD staff who were reporting to the six schools in that township.
DeVaul advised parents and legal guardians to anticipate parking and dropping off/picking up their students further away and that some streets near the schools may be temporarily closed.
“District construction projects and COVID space restrictions,” said DeVaul, “will impact traffic, parking and pedestrians walking to and around our schools in Maplewood.”
Montclair Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Jonathan Ponds, after touring his district’s 11 schools on their Sept. 9 “First Day of School,” found only several classrooms in Montclair High School’s main building closed for construction.
Flooding at MHS, said head custodian Brian Bunk, “was the worst I’ve seen in 30 years.” Ida-driven waters had also inundated the basements or ground floors of the Bradford and Hillside elementary schools. A tree had fallen onto the Edgemont Montessori Elementary School.
Ponds credited “tireless” round-the-clock work from Buildings and Grounds workers for making the Sept. 9 first day for students on time. He also thanked “administrators, staff, Board of Education members, the Mayor’s office, Township officials, police, fire and community service departments for their support.”
The Newark Public Schools also opened to full-time in-person learning as scheduled Sept. 7 despite half of its 65 school buildings being damaged.
NPS spokeswoman Nancy Deering said that 33 of the 34 buildings reported Ida-related damage. The 33 flooded buildings included 14 basements, 11 boilers and three gymnasiums whose wooden floors had buckled.
Another 21 areas – including classrooms, libraries and school wings – suffered damage. A 34th school had a tree fall before its main entrance. Two had lost their data information systems.
NPS workers immediately began emptying flooded areas and remediated mold and mildew. Equipment and technical services were rented, purchased or hired.
Ida’s initial cost is $5 million – not including the replacement of supplies and equipment, remediation, structural repairs and installing new gym floors.
“We applaud the Facilities Department, all of our trades staff, every custodial team across the 65 schools, executive staff, principals, school administrators, teachers and staff for their valiant efforts,” said Superintendent Roger Leon. “In many instances, they were at work from the start of the storm to the early dawn of the next day and over last weekend (Sept. 3-6).”
Sept. 7 opened, however, with instruction in different spaces than damaged classrooms. Deering said that the district is working “on full final restoration” as of Sept. 14.
Some residents and businesspeople, needing immediate aid, have resorted to GoFundMe.com and other crowdsourcing media to get back on their feet.
It is no surprise then that some people, including public officials, got upset when FEMA did not immediately declare Essex County a disaster area Sept. 6.
FEMA named six counties – Bergen, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Passaic and Somerset counties – as disaster areas that Monday. Essex County Executive Donald DiVincenzo was among public officials here, Hudson, Mercer and Union counties who immediately asked, “What about us?”
DiVincenzo (D-Roseland) was among officials who joined FEMA inspectors while they made the rounds here Sept. 6-7. FEMA staffers were also joined by Gov. Phil Murphy and President Joe Biden in Millburn, Manville and other hard-hit areas.
“FEMA still needs to do additional damage assessments,” said agency Administrator Deanne Criswell, “to really get a better understanding of the scope of the impact that the communities are experiencing across New Jersey.”
FEMA added Essex, Hudson, Mercer and Union counties to the disaster list for public assistance Sept. 10. That list now includes Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Morris, Salem, Sussex and Warren counties. as of Sept. 13.
The disaster declaration opens access for individuals for FEMA relief and loan programs.
Some 37,000 business owners have applied to NJ Small Business Administration grants or loans as of Sept. 14. Murphy, in his Sept. 15 briefing, said that no SBA funds, averaging $4,000 per successful applicant, have been distributed.
State Police Superintendent Col. Patrick Callahan upped New Jersey’s statewide death total to 30, with one missing in Passaic County, Sept. 13. Essex County now has a fifth casualty, tying Union. Hunterdon and Somerset each have had six fatalities.
New Jersey’s 30 fatalities makes it the state with the most Ida deaths.
