West Caldwell Hits Ida Recovery Milestone: ‘All Streets Open’

WEST CALDWELL, NJ — West Caldwell hit a big mile marker in its recovery efforts from Hurricane Ida, town officials announced Wednesday: all of its 162 streets are “open and passable.”

West Caldwell Mayor Joe Tempesta provided the following update about local damage seen from Ida last week:

“All our 162 streets are open and passable. We have had work crews from the township including our Public Works personnel and our engineers assessing damage.

“Within 12 hours of the storm ending, I declared a local State of Emergency to give us the ability to do repair work in a faster manner rather than the normal regulations which can take months. It is our intention to secure a contractor as soon as possible to begin repairs on streets, sidewalks and catch basins that may have collapsed as soon as next week if possible.

“In the short term it is our priority to fix road damage from the storm. In the long term we are trying to assess, analyze, and review solutions if any, to those of you who live along or near a brook or other water tributary.

“Please recognize those solutions, if any, are lengthy in analysis, expensive and will require extensive review from the state of New Jersey and the Department of Environmental Protection. And according to today’s NJDEP regulations permits may be difficult to obtain and may not even be possible.

“West Caldwell was fortunate in that all streets except for the bottom of Sylvan Way were open and passable within an hour or two of the storms ending. Unfortunately, that is not the case with many towns throughout the state of New Jersey. Some to this day still have streets and homes under water.

“We did have several rescues at the height of the storm for people that were trapped in their cars, but our volunteer Fire Department, Police and First Aid Squad did an excellent job in rescuing those people and thankfully there were no injuries or fatalities in town.

“Many of us experienced water in basements and other property damage. To my knowledge no one in town thankfully had to be relocated or evacuated.

“Please be advised if you have storm debris you may put it out at the curb and if our garbage contractor does not pick it up, please call Town Hall at 973-226-2300 and we will pick up the debris left at the curb as soon as possible. The Department of Public Works will pick up storm debris for the next two weeks. This pick up is only for storm related debris. If possible, kindly put the debris in 4-foot bundles.

“Regarding any financial relief, although FEMA did declare six counties a federal disaster, they DID NOT include Essex County yet. I have spoken to Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, and he is working hard to convince FEMA to reexamine Essex County and they are as we speak. This is significant because it may give homeowners the ability to obtain grant funding or reimbursement for damage in addition to any insurances you may carry.

“We will keep you posted. We will post on the township’s website any current federal, state and county contact information regarding storm relief, and we continue to lobby Senator Cory Booker and Congresswoman Mikie Sherill’s office for financial relief for damage from the storm.

“For those of you who cannot access these websites or for any assistance, please call Town Hall at 973-226-2300. Thank you and be safe.”

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