Hudson County residents woke up to an ongoing blanketing of snow today, resulting in power outages and hazardous road conditions in multiple municipalities.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
Speaking with HCV, Hudson County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Coordinator Edoardo “Junior” Ferrante said things were “a little crazy” in the last 24 hours, but that hasn’t stopped the OEM and other county workers from working throughout the storm.
In terms of snow totals, Ferrante said that there were conflicting reports due to snow drift, but estimates snow totally across Hudson County are anywhere between 18 and 26 inches.
“We urge everyone to please avoid any unnecessary travel. Regardless of what the state has put out, County Executive Craig Guy has issued a travel ban across Hudson County and it has not been lifted yet,” he noted.
While the statewide travel ban expired at 12 noon, Guy’s mandate extends that throughout the day “prohibiting non-essential travel” on all public roads, highways, and bridges throughout the county.
The massive snow fall has yielded power outages across the county, in Jersey City, Bayonne, and Secaucus.
Ferrante said that one power outage in the Heights has already been resolved, but three others in the aforementioned municipalities are still being rectified.
According to Ferrante, none of the outages are major. He said the largest one in Jersey City is impacted 376 customers, meanwhile the next largest in Bayonne was affecting only 154 customers. All of the power outages should be fixed within the hour, he added.
Furthermore, Ferrante said no major road closures have been necessary yet, noting he drove through the entire county with Sheriff James Davis and said that roads in every municipality are “extremely, extremely rough” for now.
According to Ferrante, a lot of snow accumulated in a short amount of time, and there is still more snow to come. He said that the latest update he received at 12 p.m. today indicated there could still be two to five inches on the way.
Finally, Ferrante clarified that county officials have had meetings and are ready to go with plows, salt, and everything else needed to clean the roads of the snowy mess.
He advised residents to check social media for updates from Hudson County OEM and the Hudson County Executive’s Office for additional updates.
