Politics & Government
Nazareth Resident: Pre-Hurricane Sandy information was Lacking
A Nazareth resident told Council that pre-Sandy information available to borough residents was inadequate, lacking details about evacuations and assistance for residents without power.
At least one Nazareth resident feels there was a lack of pre-Hurricane Sandy information tailored to borough residents.
”Nothing about what we should do, where we should go,” said Becky Butz during Nazareth Borough Council’s workshop Thursday night.
Borough secretary/treasurer Paul Kokolus said the mayor’s directive about Sandy was placed on the borough’s website the day before the storm pounded the Lehigh Valley. Vigilance Hose Co. No. 1 also issued a statement, which was posted on its Facebook page and on Nazareth Patch.
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Butz, however, said the pre-Sandy information available to borough residents was inadequate, lacking details about evacuations and assistance for residents without power. She said she was “literally sweating bullets” because of her sister, who is disabled and lives in the nearby Cherry Hill section of Bushkill Township.
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She said she called Bushkill fire officials twice to ask about evacuation plans. Both times, she said, the answer was “I don’t know.”
”I hit dead ends wherever I went,” Butz said, telling Council later, “I don’t want to hear from somebody ‘I don’t know.’”
It turns out her sister’s home did not lose power but Butz’s borough home did and also was damaged.
”I’m the one who had the tree fall on her house. I’m the one who had the disaster here,” she said.
She suggested that Council place information about emergencies in the borough’s newsletter.
Council President Dan Chiavaroli said he believes the borough firehouse set up some cots for residents in case they had to leave their homes. He said he would take Butz’s complaints to the borough’s emergency management official.
Other Council members sounded the theme that people must learn to take care of themselves.
Mayor Fred Daugherty Jr. talked of a lesson he took from Sandy. “What’s scary is just how dependent we are on technology. We don’t know how to fend for ourselves.”
Councilwoman Cynthia Werner echoed that theme. “What we need now is to know how to take care of ourselves -- not rely on someone else.”
