Brick Keeping An Eye On Coming Storm

BRICK, NJ ---- With weather forecasts ramping up for the weekend and concerns about added impact of the coming full moon, Brick Township officials say they are watching developments closely.

Mayor John Ducey said township officials will be meeting Wednesday afternoon to make decisions about the storm, which is expected to hit Friday evening with snow and possibly rain.

Preliminary predictions are for the storm to begin sometime Friday and carry into Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. Sunday, Jan. 24, is the full moon.

“There is potential for substantial precipitation, both snow and rain,” the Mount Holly office says in its hazardous weather outlook. “Gusty northeast winds could cause additional issues with blowing and drifting. Potential exists for 50 mph gusts along the coast late Friday night or Saturday morning, which also raises the likelihood of widespread coastal flooding for daybreak Saturday’s high-tide cycle.”

Ducey said the township has 80 pieces of equipment in total for snow and weather events, including outside contractors.

“If we know a storm is coming we put the contractors on notice and have them mobilized. As soon as there’s 4 inches on the ground, we send our guys and the contractors out,” he said.

In advance of storms, the township usually pretreats the roads with salt, and the township generally uses 220 tons of salt per event. It has 800 tons of salt on hand currently, he said.

When the plowing begins, Ducey reminded residents that it takes about 16 hours to complete the entire town.

“Once we go to an area we do curb to curb, which requires two passes,” he said. “However, the more snow we get, the longer it takes, and the time could double if we are actually plowing while the snow is still coming down hard.”

Streets with firehouses and EMS services get the top priority, Ducey said, and a plow accompanies all EMS calls so the ambulance can get through, he said.