O'port plans evacuation re-entry

Office of Emergency Management (OEM) officials unveiled a re-entry plan last week detailing how the 6,000 or so residents in Oceanport would be returned to the community after an evacuation due to weather or man-made emergencies.

"This is the first plan that we know of in the state, Monmouth County for sure," said Oceanport police Capt. Mauro Baldanza, who is also the borough's OEM coordinator. "The plan came out of the information we received over the past five to six years. We never had a plan in place before."

More than a dozen people came out to hear Baldanza unveil the plan on Nov. 12 at Maple Place Middle School. Computersimulated aerials of the borough were displayed showing the water levels from a Category 1 to a Category 4 hurricane.

Residents who came to the meeting saw a 20-minute video of what would happen if a severe hurricane hit the tri-state area similar to Hurricane Katrina, which hit the New Orleans area. Weather experts on the video said the last devastating hurricane that hit the area was in 1938 and the area is due for another one.

"We can't just say since the storm is over, you can come back into the borough," Baldanza said. "Homes may not have electricity or water, roadways may not be accessible … it would still be dangerous."

Baldanza said during the 1992 nor'easter, oil tanks had popped out of the ground and fuel had spilled into the water, three houses were pushed off their foundations, a home was destroyed by fire, many trees were knocked down, and boats and cars were floating.

"During that time, we were not that sophisticated and did not have a plan; people had self-evacuated," he said.

Baldanza said the OEM has researched re-entry plans from the Carolinas and Canada.

"Recent events in other areas of the country show that a planned approach to dealing with re-entry is the best way to get residents back in a safe and timely manner with a working infrastructure to meet their needs. There's not much sense in telling people to come back if there is no water, power or sanitation available," he said.

The borough's re-entry plan involves four phases.

Re-entry during phase one is restricted to emergency responders, designated critical work-force personnel and other personnel responsible for protecting and restoring critical municipal, county, state and federal government infrastructure.

"If residents did not heed the evacuation orders, life safety is a priority and we will be conducting search-and-rescue operations to find those residents and move them to a safe location," said Baldanza. "Also, we need to see how extensive the damage is to our infrastructure and make the necessary arrangements for repairs."

Baldanza said emergency personnel would be on top of the residences of people with special needs.

"We have four to five residences in the borough with specials needs and some that need constant electricity in their homes," he said.

Residences with special needs may register with the state, which would allow emergency personnel to know about their needs. Also the borough has a CodeRED communications network.

"This is the best way we could communicate with all the residents during an emergency," said Baldanza. "Also, some people don't know when the electricity turns off, power telephone handsets will not work, but a standard-type telephone that plugs into the wall will still be able to work."

Residents can sign up for the CodeRED communication network on the borough's website, www.oceanportboro.com.

The primary goals during the first phase include mitigating life-safety issues and concerns posing a threat to the public, and conduct official damage assessment of the municipality's critical infrastructure.

Phase two allows for re-entry of agencies and groups including public works, utilities, communication workers, health care workers and first responders that play a key role in restoring normal operation after a disaster. This is the restoration of basic life-support services: power, water, sanitation, gas and phone.

"In phase two, we are working to clear roads and restore the infrastructure," explained Baldanza. "We are making sure local government is operational and is able to meet upcoming demands."

Baldanza said since the location of borough hall is susceptible to flooding; those operations may have to be moved to another location.

"Also, a number of our fire department and first-aid members live in susceptible sections of town, so they would be adversely affected and this might impact emergency services," he said. "We want to make sure we can handle the situation with staffing."

Phase three allows for re-entry of additional groups to further restore normal operations after the disaster such as relief workers, business operators/contractors and insurance agents/adjusters.

Baldanza stressed that no contractors or insurance adjusters would be allowed to come in without permission of a homeowner.

Phase four allows residents to go in to survey damage to their property. Once public safety issues within the borough have been mitigated to a point determined to be acceptable. The fourth phase may be modified based on situational needs such as being allowed during daylight hours only or by limiting access to geographical areas determined to be safe. Residents would be given passes.

Baldanza said roadblocks might be set up to allow one ingress and one egress out of the borough.

"This is for the safety of the officers, we just don't have the manpower, and during a disaster, mutual aid may not be able to come help us since they would be dealing with their own towns," he said. "The thing that is still an issue is the people that would come from the waterways; we are working with the state police to find out a way to have them control the waterways into the borough during that situation."

Baldanza said another issue is animals.

"We have over 650 dogs in the borough and possibly the same number or more of cats in the borough," he said. "If people need to be evacuated and we set up a shelter in the Maple Place Middle School, it is not possible for the animals to be in the shelter as well."

Baldanza, who said he has had three dogs and five cats, stressed owners should arrange for their pets to stay with friends or relatives during that time or set up a system with a veterinarian.

Baldanza added that they are working on a cleanup process.

"We are asking residents to sort out their garbage in separate piles on the curb line," he said. "If just one pile is made, it would delay and create a long drawn out cleanup process."

For more information about the re-entry program, visit www.oceanportboro.com.