UPDATED: Village Mobilizing in Anticipation of Hurricane

Story update: 9:10 p.m. Thursday.

With warnings that Hurricane Irene is storming up the coast and could hit closer to New Jersey than initially expected, the village is mobilizing all departments.

Ridgewood Mayor Keith Killion said Thursday night that Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Coordinator Brad Mason has been in touch with the county's emergency management staff, and police and fire departments are well staffed in preparation for the hurricane. Staff from the health and buildings departments will also be on call throughout the weekend to aid in any disaster management needed.

According to the mayor, barricades and cones are in place; standby generators are available, saws are ready to chop trees, and the village has sandbags readied. Additionally, he said, village workers have been cleaning catch basins, checking equipment with light tower extensions, and collecting data in case FEMA reimbursement is pursued after Irene moves north.

With flooding common in low-lying areas along the brook and Saddle River, the recycling center and Graydon South lot will both have vehicles removed before dawn on Saturday. Residents around those areas will be notified as to locations they can park their cars.

AccuWeather warned that area residents should be prepared Sunday for widespread power outages and trees being uprooted from the already-saturated ground. It classified the storm as bringing with it an "extreme" risk to lives and property.

Gov. Chris Christie , urging a voluntary evacuation of Shore areas and mobilizing the National Guard. He said tourists should abandon their plans for a weekend trip to the Jersey Shore and that residents should immediately focus on hurricane preparedness.

"If it continues on the current track, from a flooding perspective this could be a 100 year event," Christie said.

Flooding could be intense in areas already prone such events, as New Jersey has already received double the amount of rain as in a typical August. Area residents can keep abreast of the level of rivers at the National Weather Service's Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service.

The village should be given the high rains that flooded basements, cars and more notably, the new . The Ho-Ho-Kus Brook and Saddle River are prone to breaking their respective banks and around a dozen properties have made insurance claims for over $1,000 over a ten year period. According to village documents, about 50 homes lie directly in the floodway.

Hurricane Floyd (a tropical storm when it passed through Ridgewood in September of 1999) flooded Village Hall and the police station, which led to the construction of a new Village Hall a few years later. In spring of 2010, dropped nearly 50 trees, shut down schools, village offices and electricity for days.

“We’re obviously looking very hard at the areas where we have had flooding,” said Jeanne Baratta, spokesperson to County Executive Kathleen Donovan. “We know that even three to four inches of rain will have an impact.”

The NWS predicts the impact of the storm will begin late Saturday and run through Sunday, first in the form of rain, with winds picking up as the day progresses on Sunday. Forecasts call for the weather to worsen starting late Saturday and officials are bracing for downpours on Sunday.  

“It looks like the rain is going to be pretty intense on Sunday,” Baratta said. “We anticipate significant flooding.”

"We're taking all the appropriate steps to properly prepare for Irene," Killion said.

Residents can find information on how to prepare for the storm at the village website. The county also has a hurricane checklist for residents. For those not on the county's emergency call list, they should go to their website at www.bcoem.org and click on the link for Emergency Notification.