Community Corner

Weather Experts: Irene's Fury Will Be Felt Inland

Strong wind gusts and heavy rain will pound the area as hurricane comes within miles of coast.

Wind gusts up to 60 miles an hour and several inches of rain are expected to batter the area as Hurricane Irene skirts the New Jersey coastline this weekend.

Valerie Meola, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, said Irene should be somewhere off the coast of Virginia and North Carolina on Saturday and is expected to move north along the coast, possibly coming within 20 miles of the Jersey Shore by Sunday afternoon.

Jersey residents can expect to see effects from the storm starting Saturday. At the height of its intensity, Meola said the storm could produce between five to nine inches of rain and wind gusts up to 80 miles an hour near the coast, and possibly up to 60 miles an hour in this area, with several inches of rain.

“It’s not particularly looking like a good beach weekend,” she said.

Irene—an intense, damaging Category 3 storm—is the rare hurricane that can threaten inland areas, The Weather Channel advised Thursday. By the time the storm reaches South Jersey Sunday, it could be a less severe Category 2 storm.

Sgt. Lee Lieber, the township’s emergency management coordinator, said he had already been in contact with other emergency personnel in town, as well as the township’s public works department, to make preparations and coordinate communication in the event of problems.

“Public works is getting their trucks loaded up with barricades if they’re needed,” he said. “We always talk these things through. This is something where we have our plans, an emergency operation plan. The big thing is communication.”

Lieber said there’s a few areas in town that flood from time to time—mentioning New Albany Road near Glen Avenue, by the industrial park, as one particularly soggy spot—but nothing too substantial.

In the event of an emergency, call 911 or contact police at 856-235-0130.

Meola said there is an increased risk of flooding with this storm because of all the precipitation the region has already experienced this month.

The storm should clear out by late Sunday, she said, “and Monday’s actually looking like a pretty decent day.”

UPDATE: In a news conference at the State Police Regional Operations Intelligence Center, Gov. Chris Christie urged tourists to abandon their plans for a weekend trip to the Jersey Shore and for residents to instead immediately focus on hurricane preparedness.

The state of emergency mobilizes the National Guard to address the hurricane preparedness.

Find out what's happening in Moorestownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Lauren Burgoon contributed to this report.


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