By Assemblyman Alex Sauickie

What a shock it was for a tornado to hit Jackson. Like many others, I was away from home at the time, coincidentally at a benefit at one of Jackson’s fire companies, and had to make a difficult trip back to ensure my family was safe. The same firefighting personnel I was with went right to work and spent hours operating in tough conditions to keep people safe.

The tornado was classified by the National Weather Service (NWS) as an EF2, meaning it had winds reaching up to 130 miles per hour. At least one report said over 9,000 residents lost power. Crosswicks, Upper Freehold, Howell, Sea Girt, Cinnaminson and Mays Landing were also hit by tornadoes the same day.

As a Jackson resident, the familiar names of neighborhoods and roads directly hit by the tornado make this incident especially chilling. The tornado touched down near Patterson Road, and continued across homes on Stonehenge Court and along West Commodore Boulevard, according to the NWS and state and local agencies.

It apparently strengthened to EF2 intensity as it proceeded to a new large warehouse development, which it partially collapsed. It then traveled across Diamond Road and back along West Commodore Road, and into the homes around Indiero Lane and Oaktree Lane. That area saw the most extensive tree, pole and power line damage, with hundreds of trees and poles downed or snapped.

The tornado appeared to weaken south of West Commodore, and its path ended before reaching the Land O Pines Mobile Home Park.

I applaud the fast and effective response from township, county and state authorities. But this dangerous incident is a reminder to be as prepared as possible for another one. To do that, I’m working on new state laws that will help in future storm events.

Shortly after Hurricane Ian hit Florida last year–and just before the 10th anniversary of Superstorm Sandy’s landfall, the state’s worst natural disaster–I introduced a storm-related bill package. These three bills would help state residents and businesses prepare for weather events and recover from them.

After Sandy hit our state, about 30,000 residents were displaced from their homes in Ocean County, more than in any other New Jersey county. Statewide, as many as 82,000 homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed, and 2.6 million residents lost power, with a third of them going without electricity for at least a week.

That’s why I want to incentivize taxpayers to install whole-house backup generators at their primary residence well in advance of any significant outage. My bill (A-4732) provides a state income tax deduction for the costs of buying and installing a backup generator.

This can literally save lives by providing power needed to preserve important medication and run or recharge necessary medical devices. For those who have to refrigerate insulin, or have apnea monitors–sometimes needed for infants–or oxygen delivery devices, for example, a backup generator should be considered a priority.

Another bill I introduced (A-333) would address steep household costs due to a loss of power. It would require electric companies to reimburse residential or commercial customers who have outages lasting more than 48 hours for the cost of spoiled food, prescription medicine, or perishable goods. Residents could receive up to $540 and businesses could recoup as much as $10,700.

The third bill (A-4731) would enable public utilities and cable, internet and cell phone companies to operate more efficiently during and after emergencies by using drones to assess and maintain critical infrastructure. The state would have to adopt rules, in accordance with
federal laws and regulations, permitting the use of unmanned aircraft for this purpose.

Getting this bill package passed ahead of the next serious weather event is crucial to our security, safety and resilience. We need to be prepared for strong storms and, as we now know, even a tornado.

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Alex Sauickie is a life-long Jackson resident who represents his home town and 13 other towns in the State Assembly