COURT HOUSE — A year after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, Cape May County Prosecutor Robert Taylor and local chiefs of police took a serious look at how to evacuate this peninsula in the event of an impending hurricane.
Taylor invited the Herald to view the plan after reading this writer’s Compass Points column about needing an evacuation plan.
Taylor said the chiefs and he discussed “the need for a better way to evacuate people in Cape May County” especially in summer months when the county is filled with vacationers, which is also peak hurricane season.
Entitled, “N.J. Garden State Parkway Contraflow Plan,” the document, which Taylor described as “a work in progress,” and retains in his office, was approved by N.J. State Police, the entity in charge of statewide emergency management in times of events, such as hurricanes.
A plan took shape because, Taylor said, the county is deemed “the sixth hardest place in the nation to evacuate behind the Florida Keys.”
Part of the reason is because of limited highway access, nearly all of which is subject to flooding in event of a serious hurricane and its storm surge.
Taylor also cited Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-1st) who had advocated and supported efforts to draft evacuation plans.
“He (Van Drew) is working on legislation, trying to give us more resources on evacuations,” said Taylor.
Taylor, along with chiefs of police, presented the reverse-lane evacuation plan to freeholders in 2007.
In short, that plan calls for all lanes of the Garden State Parkway to be northbound. Routes 47 and 347, on the county’s western side would also be reversed to allow all lanes to head north. That part of the plan has been in effect since 2004, Taylor said.
Convincing the population to evacuate is easier said than done. Many would be reluctant to leave their homes, believing the warnings are but another in a series of false alarms.
It would take an estimated 36 hours to implement the evacuation plan. Thus, skies could be blue and temperatures balmy, as the governor, who has the sole authority to initiate such an evacuation order, would start the wheels in motion to drain the county.
To get an idea of the scope of disaster, if a Category 3 hurricane struck the county, an 18-foot storm surge could be expected. That is roughly equivalent of covering a two-story structure.
According to a “slosh map” in Taylor’s office, that would mean most of the southern end of the county would be inundated, yet few can imagine the enormity of such a disaster.
With a hurricane barreling northward, if an evacuation order were given; many state and local entities would begin concerted action.
Such an evacuation would be the first since Hurricane Gloria in 1985, “It is not an untried concept. It is done routinely in the South,” said Taylor.
The plan would save about 24 hours in a full-scale evacuation over what was previously planned here, Taylor said. If that time was wisely used, many lives could be saved.
After a technical study by State Police, through the Office of Emergency Management, the conclusion was reached that the plan could work.
State Police incident commanders would be placed in Troop A headquarters in Buena, and Woodbine State Police station, where a member of the Prosecutor’s Office would also be stationed. Additional personnel would also be stationed at the Court House headquarters of county Emergency Management headquarters.
The Prosecutor Office’s mobile command vehicle would be parked near Cape Regional Medical Center at Exit 10 of Garden State Parkway.
Taylor said that vehicle is equipped with generator and satellite telephone, since a hurricane would likely disable landline and cellular telephones.
Taylor said, according to the plan, the evacuation would be suspended when sustained winds reach 39 mph.
The first job of police would be to stop southbound traffic, block all southbound on-ramps with barrels, and get police into position along various entry points of the parkway.
The person in charge of an evacuation from the Prosecutor’s Office would be Detective Mark Weeks, a retired State Police major who, prior to retirement, was in charge of the parkway for State Police, and for Troop A.
Once evacuation traffic begins to flow, no exits would be permitted. Traffic on the parkway would be directed to Atlantic City Expressway. That highway’s lanes would be traveling toward Philadelphia.
The flow from this county would begin with Cape May area residents.
They would be directed north on the southbound parkway lanes.
Wildwood area residents will be directed onto the northbound parkway at Rio Grande.
Ocean City residents would be channeled to Roosevelt Boulevard, since the Somers Point circle area would be terribly congested, and could not handle the city’s traffic.
Generators, secured through State Police and capable of producing 150 kilowatts of power, will be used at the Middle Township Elementary School No. 2, just south of Memorial Field.
That facility has been termed “A shelter of last resort” for first responders and those who refused to evacuate when the order was given.
That school was selected because it is situated in a higher part of the county, has a cafeteria, gym and classrooms where cots could be placed.
Taylor acknowledged that evacuation traffic would be quite similar to Memorial Day or Fourth of July on the parkway, which is usually slow moving, bumper to bumper.
If cars become disabled, they would be pushed off the roadway, so as not to stall the exodus, he said.
Contact Campbell at (609) 886-8600 Ext 28 or at: al.c@cmcherald.com
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