Last week’s storm has left more than half of the borough’s households and buildings in darkness. Currently there are reportedly 3,029 of PSE&G’s 5,896 customers – more than 51% – without electricity in Roselle Park. The sounds of generators have become a nightly ritual throughout town and with forecasts predicting rain on Wednesday, residents who are experiencing outages should realistically prepare to be without electricity beyond November 9th and possibly through the following week.
So far, Superstorm Sandy caused around 250 trees to fall around the borough, with 38 of them falling on houses; four of those houses were officially condemned as uninhabitable by government officials.
Two injuries were reported as a result of the storm. One happened on Galloping Hill Road at 3:30 .m. when a tree struck a vehicle which trapped a Roselle Park resident inside. She had to be extracted from the vehicle and was sent to the hospital with minor injuries. The second incident happened later that night when a tree which housed a beehive fell and a police officer responding to the scene was stung by a bee. As a matter of precaution, the officer reluctantly agreed to have Roselle Park First Aid check out his wound.
In the aftermath of the storm, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) flew in a crew from California to help with the removal of tress in the borough. The 20-man crew is being housed an hour away at Fort Dix in New Hanover Township, NJ. Additionally, PSE&G brought in crews from Texas, Arkansas, and Ohio to help with restoring power. The municipality authorized $120,000 to hire a crew from Virginia to remove fallen trees throughout the Borough. All other removal expenses are expected to be fully or majorly reimbursed by FEMA.