Fort Lee Storm Damage: Fallen Trees, Power Outages, Flooded Basements

By early afternoon Sunday, Fort Lee had seen the worst of Hurricane Irene. Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich said the borough’s emergency operations center at the Fort Lee Police Department was going to shut down, and the cleanup began in earnest.

Earlier in the day, Sokolich told Patch, officials were dealing with a couple of downed trees, “pockets of flooding,” limited power outages, a pump station with a faulty generator and failed transformers behind Borough Hall, but that otherwise the borough was in pretty good shape in the wake of the storm, which passed through early Sunday morning.

Below is a rundown of developments as Patch reported them:

8 a.m.

“Fort lee is surviving this storm very, very well,” Sokolich told Patch after his briefing with local emergency services. “The pockets of flooding are in individual homes, not even in areas or regions of the borough. And while I have the resources available, if a house is badly flooded, we will send our resources there to help them. If the flooding becomes or gets to a point where it’s beginning to affect an entire region and we need to devote our resources elsewhere, obviously we’re going to have to do that. But until that, we’re going to accommodate as many residents as we can.”

Other issues Sokolich reported Sunday included a “major tree that fell” overnight on Anderson Ave. that was blocking traffic between Columbia Ave. and Deerwood Rd.

“Unfortunately that section is filled with power lines, and as a consequence, our DPW cannot go there until the power is confirmed to be turned off,” Sokolich said. “We are advised that PSE&G is going to send a crew so as soon as the crew is sent and the power is turned off, we’ll then be able to remove it. We would have removed it immediately except for the power wire.”

Another downed tree caused closure of a small section of Abbott Blvd., but Sokolich expected that to be “removed promptly because there aren’t power lines involved.”

“The bigger issue that we have is that a pump station is down, and the generator is faulting for whatever reason,” Sokolich said. “We have our repair crew there now, and they’re confident they’re going to be able to restore it very quickly. Once that’s restored, everything will be working and functioning.”

An emergency operations center at the Fort Lee Police Department was initiated during the night when transformers behind Borough Hall failed, resulting in “pockets of outages,” Sokolich said, including at a Fort Lee Office of Emergency Management sub-office out of which they had been operating.

“So we initiated the operations center,” Sokolich said. “Everybody’s in, and we’re good to go. We’re fielding complaints and calls as they come in, but I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as a lot of folks thought. And, by the way, thank God.”

Sokolich said that with the uncertainty of the next few hours and the potential impact of the back end of the storm, Fort Lee residents should remain indoors for the time being.

“Stay inside, hunker down and let the first responders do what they’re supposed to be doing. Let us clean everything up, and you’ll be back to normal tomorrow,” he said.

10 a.m.

Some Fort Lee Residents reported flooding in homes and basements.

11:03 a.m.

Borough officials said severe weather was "still a threat." Some roads remained closed. Fallen trees and downed power lines posed hazards. Officials urged Fort Lee residents to remain indoors.

11:07 a.m.

Borough officials announced the following road closures:

• Center Ave. north of Main St.
• The entire length of Hudson Terrace
• Anderson Ave. from Columbia to Brinkerhoff
• Abbott Blvd. northbound at Bellemeade Ave.

11:30 a.m.

Sokolich said the tree on Anderson Ave. was "in the process of being removed."

12:00 p.m.

Sokolich said the emergency operations center the borough set up at the Fort Lee Police Department would close down early Sunday afternoon.

“The operations center was in full swing here at the police department, and we’re probably going to close it down in a little while,” Sokolich said. “We’ve got a 10-foot by 10-foot map where the storm is; everybody’s on the phones. It’s really an operation.”

Fort Lee Councilman Harvey Sohmer said the borough had received about 100 calls from people whose basements are flooded. Contributing to the problem is the fact that many residents are without electricity and sump pumps are therefore not working. Officials will continue to address those problems throughout the day, he said.

A Fort Lee OEM official told Patch that the storm may not be over just yet, warning residents not to let the current period of calm lull them into a false sense of security.

Fort Lee Fire Chief Jeff Silver said PSE&G may have to wait until Monday to fix the transformers that failed at Borough Hall because the continuing threat of high winds is preventing the utility from getting a bucket truck up to repair the problem.

Sokolich expects traffic to be heavy in Fort Lee Monday, and said the borough will most likely need to use extra manpower to deal with it.

Additional reporting by Arya F. Jenkins and Donna Brennan.

2:51 p.m.

Borough officials announced the following road closures and re-openings:

• Center Ave. remained closed north of Main St. to Bruce Reynolds Blvd.
• Abbott Blvd. northbound to Bellemeade remained closed
• All other closures had been re-opened

3 p.m.

Officials urge residents to use caution when going outside, saying, fallen trees, debris and downed power lines "pose significant hazards."