10 Years After Sandy: Morris Co. Emerges More Prepared For Any Storm

MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — The memories of Superstorm Sandy from ten years ago won't fade for Morris County residents, even after ten years. On Oct. 29, Superstorm Sandy made landfall in New Jersey, leaving parts of the state devastated and uprooted.

The storm knocked down powerlines and trees, causing days, and in some cases weeks, of power outages and uncertainty in all communities throughout the county.

According to the Department of Environmental Protection, 346,000 homes were damaged or destroyed across the state. Thirty-eight people were killed. It was the most expensive natural disaster in New Jersey history, causing $30 billion in economic damage.

Jeffery Paul, the Morris County Office of Emergency Management Coordinator, recalls the destruction of the superstorm like it was yesterday. "It was obviously a devastating event throughout New Jersey certainly and it was specifically in Morris County as well."

After Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc on Morris County, many people felt helpless and scared. However, in the months and years following, the community worked to recover and rebuild in order to better prepare for storms of this magnitude.

Since the storm, Paul says Morris County has come a long way in the past 10 years.

"We have an opportunity to, you know, experience the results of that. And now our job, as you know, not only emergency responders, but emergency management, elected officials, government, in general, is to do our best to protect the citizens is to make sure that we are all working collaboratively to do something to better prepare ourselves for that event occurring again," said Paul.

Following the superstorm, county officials have emphasized risk mitigation, with flooding being one of the most difficult challenges to overcome. Paul stated that the county has conducted various elevations, home buyouts and an increased budget for infrastructure changes in order to combat damage.

"There's been money put into communities. Some had more impact than others, and, you know, the specifics of what occurred to each municipality was evaluated and there's been a tremendous amount of dollars that have been put forth in the last 10 years," said Paul.

One significant change that has occurred in response to the storm is how the emergency management team responds to and prioritizes situations during a crisis. According to Paul, Sandy served as some kind of wake-up call and allowed them to hone in on the best practices for any future events.

"We were able to tweak those processes to say, okay, what worked, what didn't work? And if this were to repeat itself and that's, you know, all part of mitigation, what is it that we need to do? We have embarked on all kinds of plans in partnership with many, so it's not just the Morris County Office of Emergency Management," said Paul.

After Sandy hit the county, two groups of people were impacted differently: the homeless and the elderly. According to Paul, the county has made an effort to partner more closely with human resource partners. "We're much more closely aligned with the divisions that serve the homeless population and our seniors that are in assisted living facilities."

Superstorm Sandy and its aftermath brought out a sense of community and greatness in the human spirit for so many, as homes, roads and complete towns were ravaged by the storm’s strength.

The evening of the storm, Bob's Long Valley Pizza, which has since closed, served as a haven for many Washington Township residents as it was the only eatery in the community offering any kind of food.

When recounting the days following the storm, Madison Borough's Mayor Robert Conley said,"when a call went out for a generator exchange, we were overwhelmed with the response. Residents with generators who had their power restored did not hesitate to lend their generators to families in the dark."

"The fire department assisted with the program ensuring that they were used safely. Neighbors checked on neighbors and invited those waiting for power to dinner. And when I visited five churches the Sunday after Sandy, the question wasn’t, 'When will we get our power back?' but 'what can we do to help those in need?'"

According to Paul, the county responded quickly and efficiently and took the steps to make necessary changes and provide much-needed funding to endure that in the event of another superstorm, the county would be prepared.

"We're fortunate that we have the support. We're not fighting for programs and dollars that are designed for that bad day. You know, some people, in some communities, think 'we're not gonna spend that kind of money because what's the chance of that happening?' But in Morris we do plan and we do spend money on the things that we really do hope never happen," Paul said.

"Nobody has a crystal ball in this business, right? We can't, we can't forecast, Oh, you know, we're gonna have a superstorm Sandy in 23. We're gonna have an Irene in 24. You know, we don't know what we're gonna have."

The ten years following the storm have seen Morris County's recovery. Officials from the county and the local municipalities worked to rebuild, repair structures, and create emergency plans, among other things.

However, no one has forgotten the outstanding work that volunteers and first responders carried out as a devastated community recovered.

"I hope nobody has to experience a Superstorm Sandy or anything like that. But I can tell you if we do, we're better today than we were ten years ago," Paul said.