The Kevin M. Walsh Fireworks Festival was a casualty of the storms this year. I’m looking forward to the event in 2012. There is something about fireworks that brings out the kid in everyone!
Speaking of the storms, it’s still not over. As the rains continue, so does the flooding. Property cleanup seems incessant. The bright spots between the rainstorms allowed us to begin some serious repairs and put in soggy yard work time. It was gratifying to see our Municipal DPW vehicles on the road throughout the torrents and hear of the continuing efforts by our fire companies in helping residents by pumping out basements. Our townships three major rivers and many tributaries that provide our spectacular landscapes also present the greatest threats to our safety when extreme weather conditions prevail. September has tested our preparedness. Some ideas are worth repeating:
- Get timely school and road information to local radio stations.
- Get a dedicated phone line operational with recorded updates
- Let the township and school district share the district’s Honeywell First Alert access—this is too critical to relinquish to contractual language.
Coordination and cooperation are essential. County, state, and JCP&L deficiencies can certainly be cited as our recent committee report indicated, but our township needs to take the lead in remedying our problems. If the state or county needs to provide more equipment and personnel to handle their responsibilities, then let them know about it and get commitments from them.
Find out what's happening in Long Valleyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Finally, I’m very grateful to Joseph Benigno, Principal Engineer and LV resident, for solving our basement puddle mystery. It seem that the company we hired to waterproof the basement blocked two key sump hole entry points when installing new liners. Mr. Benigno tapped a couple of holes in the affected area and the water began to flow correctly.
