By all accounts, Haddonfield got off pretty easy in the wake of Hurricane Irene this weekend, according to borough representatives. The category one hurricane came and went Saturday night into early Sunday morning, but didn’t cause as much damage as originally estimated.
Borough Administrator Sharon McCullough said Haddonfield experienced some minor flooding issues along Coles Mill Road, but nothing that was incredibly damaging. Evan Pond breeched during the storm, she said, and there was some fear that the dam would fail, but in the end it held strong and the waters have since receded.
McCullough said there were 15 incidents of large trees coming down during the storm. The Haddonfield Department of Public Works will have employees operating a wood chipper for the next two weeks to help clear manageable branches from homes. Any loose branches meant for disposal should be placed curbside for the DPW employees, McCullough said.
Sunday morning DPW crews worked from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., McCullough said, addressing downed trees and limbs to make sure that travel was safe through Haddonfield. They’ll be going back out today to clear some of the bigger downed borough trees that they couldn’t get to on Sunday, she said.
Currently, there are still residents in Haddonfield without power, she said. According to the PSEG outage map, about 5,000 to 10,000 customers in Camden County are still without power.
McCullough stressed that the DPW will not come out and remove any personal trees that fell during the storm.
“We did come out of this much better than everyone anticipated. We had extra help out for the police department with the auxiliary department helping out,” she said. “We want to thank everyone who helped us in the storm.”
For any incidents, please call the DPW at 429–0183.
