Englewood Mayor Urges People To Help Each Other, Schools Closed Thursday

As many as half of Englewood residents remained without power Wednesday in Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath, and it could be five more days before it’s restored, according to Mayor Frank Huttle, who urged residents to work together and help their neighbors.

“It’s across the board—all four wards,” Huttle told Patch of the power outages. “We have 5,000 to 6,000 Englewood customers who are without power—customers; more people. That’s over 50 percent of the city.”

Huttle said he’s been in “constant contact” with PSE&G officials, who have told him they’re projecting at least five days before the power comes back on.

He added that the city was “fortunate” in some respects that the “catastrophic events of Sandy” didn’t have the impact it had in other parts of the region “because of not getting hit with the rains.”

The Englewood City Council held an emergency meeting Tuesday night “because we simply wanted to communicate the message to all the residents to work together and help your neighbor,” Huttle said, adding that he believes that’s “most definitely” what the city’s residents are doing.

“The public last night spoke and said they would volunteer their time to help others and our city,” Huttle said Wednesday. “We’re in the recovery plan.”

He added, “There is electricity in the downtown, and many stores and the ShopRite are open.”

Huttle also sent out the following email to residents, saying much the same thing:

Dear Residents of Englewood,

Hurricane Sandy has been called the storm of the century with unimaginable consequences. Now that the worst has passed, it is time for the City of Englewood to move forward and help our residents return to normal as quickly and safely as possible.

On Sunday, I declared an official State of Emergency in the City of Englewood after getting briefed on the severity of the storm over the weekend. Our Office of Emergency Management (OEM) worked in coordination with all City departments and City Hall staff around the clock throughout Sandy to make sure that Englewood residents were safe. Now, we are all working together to deal with the aftermath of the storm. 

While 5,000-6,000 Englewood customers are without power, we are fortunate considering the catastrophic effects of Sandy felt across our region. All over New Jersey and New York, communities have been decimated, experiencing tragic loss of life, businesses, and property. Our thoughts and prayers should be with those whose lives have been devastated by the storm. In Englewood, our primary concerns are ensuring the continued safety of our residents and restoration of power.

PSE&G announced that it will take at least 5 days for full power restoration given that over 1.4 million customers are without power, the largest number in history. PSE&G has assembled a virtual army of over 1,550 technicians. However, power must first be restored to water treatment facilities to avoid contamination, then to hospitals, police and fire stations, and then to customers.

Until full electricity has been returned, please be mindful of conditions in our City. OEM requests that you remain at home if possible until fallen electrical wires and trees are removed from the streets.

The City of Englewood joins Governor Christie's executive order cancelling Halloween and moving it to Monday. Please do not trick-or-treat outside today. Safety is our first priority, especially for our children.

In tough times the City of Englewood has united to help our friends and neighbors, and I know that we will do that now. In an emergency meeting held with the City Council last night, members of our community offered their assistance. We established a Volunteer Committee to communicate vital information and make sure the City is aware of anyone in need of immediate help. To volunteer, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator Andrea Katz, representative of Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle's office, at 201-893-5310 or frankhuttle@englewoodmayor.com.

To report an outage, please call PSE&G at 1-800-436-7734. You may also call the Office of Emergency Management at 201-567-3124. County Executive Donovan has opened a shelter at Bergen Community College, located at 400 Paramus Road in Paramus. Please call OEM if you need transportation, which the County will provide.

Finally, we thank all residents for your cooperation and patience as City Officials and our community work to address the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Please forward this message to any City resident who may not have received this information.

Regards,

Mayor Frank Huttle III

Huttle had declared a state of emergency in the city in advance of the storm.

Meanwhile, school officials said all of Englewood’s schools are closed Thursday, and that they’re making school closure decisions on a daily basis.

“My understanding of that is that the superintendent is trying to call it day-by-day, so I can confirm that school won’t be open on Thursday thus far,” said Englewood Board of Education president Stephen Brown. “As far as Friday goes, we’re not sure yet.”

Parents are urged to check the school district’s website for updates on school closures.