NORTH CAPE MAY — With the anticipation of traffic-choked and possibly flooded roads and a shortage of buses to transport those who cannot drive during a hurricane evacuation, the five vessels of the Cape May-Lewes Ferry could transport 5,000 people from this county.
At this point the idea is only a suggestion from the public.
Cape May County has no hurricane shelters and everyone must evacuate even in a Category 1 storm.
According to Delaware River and Bay Authority spokesman James Salmon, if a hurricane was predicted to make landfall, all five ferries, the M.V. Cape Henlopen, M.V. Twin Capes, M.V. Delaware, M.V. New Jersey and M.V. Cape May, would be moved up the Delaware River either to the Port of Philadelphia or Port of Wilmington, Del. but they would be empty of passengers. He said he had not previously heard the suggestion of using the empty ferries to evacuate residents.
Salmon said the ferries could be loaded with people but not with cars since there would be no location to offload vehicles. Each ferry could be loaded with 1,000 passengers without vehicles for a total of 5,000 persons on all five ships, he said.
He said more persons could be loaded on each ferry if extra life jackets were put aboard each vessel.
“You’re regulated by how many life jackets you have on board,” said Salmon.
He questioned what would happen to passengers once the ferries docked in Philadelphia or Wilmington.
Salmon said he would suggest the matter to the director of ferry operations.
DRBA Commissioner Niels Favre, who is also Cape May’s Deputy Mayor and captains the city’s Fire Police, told the Herald he thought using the ferries for evacuations was a good idea. He suggested DRBA talk with the county Emergency Management Office about the concept.
Favre said he didn’t believe the ferries would be moved to Philadelphia or Wilmington in a Category One hurricane. He said he believed the vessels would be tied up in North Cape May for storms below Category Two.
“One of the things I think County Emergency Management would have to work out is a mechanism to get people who don’t drive to the ferry whether they use emergency vehicles or use some kind of carpooling arrangement,” said Favre.
He said at one time, county emergency management had considered loading fire trucks from local municipalities onto the ferries to take them out of harm’s way. Favre said it was decided instead to create a staging area for fire apparatus at the county airport in Erma for a Category two or three storm.
The county airport is the highest point in Cape May County, he said.
Favre said Cape May’s emergency management was constantly updating a list of residents that needed transportation in the event of a storm.
Art Treon, emergency management director for Lower Township, told the Herald school buses from Lower Cape May Regional and Lower Elementary school districts would be used to transport those in need. Between the two districts, a pool of 56 buses are available.
Treon said if not all 56 buses were needed for evacuation of Lower Township, they could be shared with the county. He said there had been discussion of using the ferries for evacuation
Treon noted the ferries would leave well in advance of stormy conditions.
“You can’t really put them in a plan because you don’t know if they’ll be available,” he said.
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