If You're in a Flood-Prone Area, Leave Now, Booker Urges

Newark Mayor Cory Booker issued an impassioned plea Monday morning to residents in flood-prone areas to head to the main city shelter, the JFK Rec Center at  211 W. Kinney St., immediately, before Hurricane Sandy begins to hit with full force by around 3 pm.

Only two people were in the pet-friendly shelter last night, despite the mayor’s urging residents to get there before the storm strikes with full force, Booker said.

Booker also urged residents who want to head to the shelter but need help getting there to call the city’s non-emergency number,  973-733-4311. While the shelter will be supplied, residents are still urged to bring along bedding, diapers and games for children, any necessary special foods needed, and other household items.

Booker stopped short of issuing a mandatory evacuation but said one may be issued later Monday.

Booker also said the city will be identifying additional flooding areas and posting those on the city’s web site.

“We are strongly encouraging residents to leave their homes now,” Booker said from the city’s emergency management office on Clinton Avenue.

“Notorious flooding areas will put people in extreme jeopardy,” Booker added.

Those areas include those places where flooding hit  particularly hard when Tropical Storm Irene struck last year, including low-lying East Ward streets like Delancy and South. Elsewhere in the city, the Rt. 280 overpass is also known to be subject to flooding.

Booker, however, said this storm will be far worse than last year’s Irene, both in power and in duration. Booker said even during that event, first-responders were stretched to the limit performing aquatic rescues. But Sandy, which is expected to strike Monday afternoon and last for about 36 hours, will be far more severe, potentially taxing first-responders even more. Making Sandy especially dangerous is the arrival of high tide expected around 8 pm.

Residents who don’t leave immediately might be trapped behind a “wall of water” and without power for days, even after the powerful storm subsides, Booker said.

Booker said during Irene and other disasters, people have had to be rescued while trying to escape flooding. Those people waited too long, Booker said, and this time around, delaying will be even more dangerous.