Camden County Saw Near Sandy-Level Emergency Calls During Tuesday Night's Storm

The Camden County Communications Center received a total of 2,432 calls over a six-hour period, county officials said Wednesday morning. This included more than 1,000 fire calls, representing a 900 percent increase in fire calls.

On an average day, the center receives 100 calls for service.

During Superstorm Sandy, the Department of Public Safety received 3,522 calls for service in a 54 hour period, meaning the center received 70 percent of the total calls received during Sandy.

The South County Branch of the Camden County Library System is closed on Wednesday, and PATCO remains out of service.

The southern region of the county, from the Route 295 corridor down, was hit the hardest.

On Wednesday morning, most highways in Camden County are clear and open with a “significant amount of work” being done on downed trees,” following Tuesday night’s storm that wreaked havoc through South Jersey, county officials said.

“Our crews are working on several roadways right now to ensure the health and welfare of drivers and residents throughout our highway system,” Camden County Freeholder Ian Leonard, liaison to the Camden County Department of Public Works, said. “The scope and severity of this storm in the short period of time it struck the county was extreme and destructive. Personnel have been working since the weather conditions cleared yesterday and will continue to clear debris over the next 48 hours.”

The Freeholder Board has been communicating with Atlantic City Electric and PSE&G about power restoration.

“I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the dispatchers that performed admirably during this very strenuous time period,” Camden County Freeholder Michelle Gentek said. “This kind of call volume during this type of weather event tests everyone’s limits, but our employees all responded to the challenge and not only assisted county residents, but took overflow calls from other counties as well.”

If the storm took out electricity, residents should remember to call an outage in immediately to their utility company so they can identify the location and coordinate crews to restore power. Below are numbers and contact info for the two power providers and the two gas utilities in Camden County:

• PSE&G: 1-800-436-PSEG (7734)
• PSEG website: http://pseg.com/home/customer_service/outage_info/index.jsp
• Atlantic City Electric: 1-800-833-7476
• Atlantic City Electric website: http://www.atlanticcityelectric.com/home/
• South Jersey Gas: 1-800-582-7060
• South Jersey Gas website: http://southjerseygas.com/

The attached images were provided by the Camden County Freeholder Board.