Crime & Safety

When Life Storms Lemons...

Residents make best of power outage.

Compared to a frigid snow day, today's power outage school closing seems a bit absurd. As though it were a summer day, Ridgewood students rode bikes, tossed footballs, and enjoyed the nice weather.

In Upper Ridgewood, three girls ran a lemonade stand. Anne McGinley, Stephanie Kusel, and Bridget Mulen charged 50 cents a glass for the pink beverage. The young entrepreneurs say they made about $5 today. 

Although outside, many residents like the girls remain without power, and the village reports 37 closed roads. With receding rain and prominent sunshine, an estimated 1,000 residents are in the dark, according to the fire chief.

Find out what's happening in Ridgewood-Glen Rockwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The village inches closer to normalcy but postponements still persist. Tonight's Planning Board meeting on the Valley Hospital expansion was cancelled, with no makeup day named. The Community ACCESS meeting was also postponed, according to Councilman Paul Aronsohn.

As for schools, nearly all students will return to class tomorrow. However, Willard Elementary will be closed. The district said the Office of Emergency Management declared the school to still be in a hazardous area. 

Find out what's happening in Ridgewood-Glen Rockwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The cleanup effort continues with residents, village workers and utility officials clearing debris. Trees, branches, and brush will be accepted at Lakeview Composting Facility, on Lake View Drive until April 4.

With more than 421,000 customers without electricity over the past few days, PSE&G declared the outages as the worst event in company history. Although 92 percent of customers statewide have regained power, it estimates anywhere from 500 to 2,000 Ridgewood residents remain in the dark.

Ridgewood Fire Chief James Bombace put that figure at around 1,000 homes and calls the utility company's Wednesday target date for most power to be returned realistic, with remaining customers restored Thursday.

"I think that's a fair estimate. I don't think they're dragging their feet or being overly optimistic," he said Tuesday morning. "Slowly but surely, we're all getting to things."

The northern edge of town still has many without power. Resident Barry Miller broke down and bought a generator (from Ace Hardware in Waldwick). His basement is flooded, but he didn't sustain any real damage. He pointed to Ridgewood's old trees as the blackout's catalyst.

"The problem with old towns like Ridgewood is that all electrical wires are above ground... I used to like my trees, but I'm going to take all mine down," he said.

For Debbie Brusey, her storm experience was particularly dramatic. While driving Saturday, a tree crashed right on her car.

Others, like Anne Chiaviello, are keeping busy. Yesterday, she took the train into New York with her kids and spent the day at the American Museum of Natural History. At night, although cold, she said her family's playing cards and board games.

 "The kids are having fun. We're all outside playing. Luckily, no one was hurt," she said.

The fire department received 200 calls for service since the beginning of the March 13 storm—several from different residents on the same problems, others from revisiting power lines that became live.

"Our priorities are along main roads, then small roads or dead ends that don't block traffic," he said.

Yesterday, the village offered PSE&G its target areas. Village Hall remains without power. However, service was returned to the two Ridgewood fire stations along Glen Avenue last night.

Despite the outage Village Hall remains open, while the library is closed. All Ridgewood schools are closed today.

Bombace said PSE&G must clear power lines near the Willard school along the village's northern edge. Additionally, a fireman still guards a live wire at South Van Dien and Spring Avenues, awaiting PSE&G service. Also a concern is village areas on the east side of Route 17.

Compared to 1999's Hurricane Floyd, this incident is unique because of its wind versus water damage.

"Floyd was more of a water flooding event, and there were power lines down but not to the extent of this storm," Bombace said. "[With this storm] there's not as much flooding... The brooks teetered on flooding and went on to their banks but went back in."

As Bombace's men rotate in and out, the fire chief emphasized the importance of breaks for firefighters.

"When you get guys out there who are tired, they lose their edge and may make a mistake," Bombace said. "You want them to do things the right way and give them a chance to eat and sleep."

In an announcement on the village's Web site yesterday, the town warned residents to avoid power lines, and invited people to call 800-436-PSEG if they found wires. Bombace echoed that sentiment.

"You really have to know what you're doing with wires, because if not, 'boom' you're done," Bombace said.

An inevitable effect of the storm is its budget ramifications. With extra fire, street, shade tree, and police staff called in, Bombace said "this will have an adverse impact on the village's budget."

The village plans to update its Web site and public safety Twitter account with road openings as they come in. Follow the village @RidgewoodPS


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