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Sunday, November 4, 2012

Photo Gallery: Submit Your Photos From Hurricane Sandy

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Hurricane Sandy ravaged homes, tore down power lines, ripped trees out of the ground, left residents powerless and utterly devastated New Jersey.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Bambina's Cucina Collecting Hurricane Sandy Donations

Cedar Grove shop collecting donations for the Shore and is offering free hot soup and a warm place to relax to residents still recovering from Hurricane Sandy.

Bambina's Cucina in Cedar Grove has been making the best of a bad situation following Hurricane Sandy by collecting donations for the Shore while giving out free soup, despite losing all of its produce. Bambina's, located at 198 Stevens Ave., offers gourmet foods and catering. The shop lost all of its produce during the power outages following Hurricane Sandy. The produce that did survive the storm was cut up and made into a soup, which is being given out to residents in need of a hot meal. “We had some produce delivered on Monday that was salvageable,” said store owner and manager Angela Lembo. “We are giving out hot soup, bread, baked goods and coffee for free.” People are welcome to come in, get warm, charge their electronics and are …

Suzann Frattolillo Gemelos

11:00 am on Sunday, November 4, 2012

This is a great idea. Thank you Bambina's!   more ›

Hurricane Sandy Timeline

A list of local stories on Hurricane Sandy from Verona-Cedar Grove Patch.

Friday October 26 Hurricane Sandy, also known as “Frankenstorm” on social media, is expected to hit Verona and Cedar Grove late Monday and into Tuesday. Both towns are busy preparing before hunkering down to await the storm. Both townships will be using the NIXLE system to provide residents with immediate updates on what is going on in case of an emergency situation. Saturday October 27 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's updated storm path and rainfall projections show show options for the storm missing the region "rapidly dwindling." According to the report and graphics released Saturday evening by the NOAA's Gary Szatkowski, confidence continues to increase that the region will see very severe impacts from this storm. …

Friday, November 2, 2012

Help Your Neighbors Recover From Sandy

If you can help your Essex County neighbors, respond using the hashtag #EssexNeeds.

Want to help folks affected by Hurricane Sandy? Provide a trade or skill or make a connection for someone affected by the storm? People in the Tri-state area are still reeling from the storm. Many remain without power, lights, heat and are struggling to find gasoline for their cars and generators. Patch wants to help. We are providing a forum where residents can donate to others to help them through the aftermath of the storm. Do you have a skill or work in a trade where you would be willing to help out someone who needs a friend or neighbor right about now? If you’ve lost possessions in the storm, this forum may be able to help you. Do you have an item to donate? Is there an item you need? You can use this forum to connect with others who…

Towns Have Contingency Plans for Voting

Backup locations in place should power outages affect Election Day Tuesday.

With Election Day rapidly approaching and many residents still without power, local officials are gearing up with contingency plans to make sure polling stations are open. In Verona, Mayor Frank Sapienza said he took part in a conference call on the subject with President Barrack Obama, Gov. Chris Christie and state officials Thursday. “One of the topics that came up was the election next week,” said Sapienza. “The election is still on and there is going to be a questionnaire from the lieutenant governor's office to go out to the county board of elections to fill out if a polling location is without power.” The voting machines will be delivered on Monday morning and there are backup polling locations for three areas of concern in Verona. …

Gas Frenzy Hits Verona, Cedar Grove

Residents wait on line for five hours at a time for a few gallons of gasoline.

The number of stations that have supplies of gasoline is running low everywhere in Essex County, including Verona and Cedar Grove. The stations that have managed to get power and fuel have had lines stretching for miles, with customers sometimes waiting hours for a few gallons. In a scene reminiscent of the 1970s oil crisis, residents have been sitting in lines stretching around the block for hours at a time. Cedar Grove Exxon, located at 379 Pompton Ave., opened at 6 a.m. on Friday and lines of cars were already queued up waiting for gas. “I got there around 7:30 a.m.,” said Verona resident Victor Disanzo. “I waited two hours to get five gallons of gas to fill my sister's car. Now the line has tripled.” By 1 p.m., the station had a line …

Verona Mayor Dissatisfied with PSE&G Response

Sapienza dissatisfied with lack of communication from utility company after Hurricane Sandy.

Verona Township officials, police, fire, rescue squad and volunteers have been working tirelessly to get the town back on the grid, but officials say PSE&G may not be doing all it can to help them. On Friday, Nov. 2, four days after Hurricane Sandy, about 70 percent of the town was still without power, according to Verona Office of Emergency Management Director Jeff Hayes. “We are well ahead of other towns in terms of restoration,” said Hayes. “There are still wires on the street and we don't know if they are live. Whether its live or not, it’s live until someone tells us its dead.” In one instance PSE&G came in and “reluctantly” told them a primary wire was dead, said Hayes. When the wire was confirmed dead, the town was able to remove …

Jersey Joe

8:11 am on Monday, November 5, 2012

So I witnessed a couple trucks working on a pole near FN Brown School and 30 minutes later half of Verona lights up like the Fourth of July... It is an outrage of what little time was needed to get a very large percentage of power restored to the town... From what I could tell this small fix brought power to Woodland east to Bloomfield and Pompton south to Fairview. I am still appalled at what …   more ›

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Sandy Forces Verona to Alter Calendar

Board of Education unanimously passes resolution Thursday night to accommodate days lost by this week's storm.

The Verona Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution Thursday night that alters the district calendar to add two additional full days to the school calendar. The vote adds next Thursday, Nov. 8 and Friday, Nov. 9 as full school days to make up for time lost during Hurricane Sandy earlier this week. “I have been in contact with the administrative team and the two unions that represent the employees of the district,” said Verona Superintendent Steven Forte. “Both unions gave the district an official letter saying they support having school next Thursday and Friday.” “These days are for the NJEA convention, which has been canceled,” he said. Atlantic City was damaged by the storm causing the NJEA to cancel the teachers convention …

Essex County to President Obama: We Need Fuel

Essex County executive and Gov. Chris Christie have conference call with President Barack Obama post-Sandy.

According to one elected official, one positive development in the aftermath of post-Sandy is the partnership between Republican Gov. Chris Christie and President Barack Obama, a Democrat. On Thursday, two days since Hurricane Sandy tore through the Northeast devastating parts of New Jersey, the two leaders had a conference call. Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr., said he was part of the call and said the federal government has been receptive to the state's needs. "I was thanking the president and the governor for their leadership," said DiVincenzo, whose county largely remains without power. "The governor's staff has been extraordinary. It's been a great partnership." DiVincenzo said besides pledging help from the Federal …

STEVE DUNCAN

5:16 pm on Friday, November 2, 2012

I don't fault those who have but do not share. It's just bad upbringing. However I went on to Hotels.com to book a room from my brother who lives in Maplewood and is still without power. The Capri Inn was $910/tax included for one night! REALLY! It seems people have no conscience! I hope for the sake of all whom are suffering in Maplewood that power is restored sooner than later! God speed   more ›

Cedar Grove Says School Resumes Monday

Full week of classes planned after teacher's convention cancelled.

The Cedar Grove School District Thursday night announced via Nixle classes in the district's K-12 programs will be back to a normal schedule and will include full-day classes, with the exception of Tuesday, Nov. 6 for Election Day, when the district will have early dismissal. The district was scheduled to have off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for the annual NJEA teacher's convention in Atlantic City. However, because of Hurricane Sandy, classes were cancelled in the district this entire week. Classes at the St. Catherine of Sienna school will not be affected. The entire announcement from the district appears below: The Cedar Grove Public School Schedule has been revised for the week of November 5, 2012 as follows:  Monday - Full Day …

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