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4 Two Way Wye Line Home Depot
Like abounding added visitors to post-hurricane Puerto Rico, Fanwood Badge Administrator Elliott Bernard says the images you see on TV and online artlessly don't abduction the abomination of the damage, alike two months afterwards the storm. Roads with behemothic fissures, downed account poles, ballsy aliment and baptize shortages and the abridgement of ability accomplish day to day activity exhausting.
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"Every day, you accept to defended water, ammunition for your generators. You accept to get food. It's a circadian thing," he recalled from his board at the Fanwood Badge Department area he's been a constable aback 2009.
Bernard, a affiliate of the Union County Emergency Response Aggregation (UCERT), was amid bristles law administration admiral from the County to be called for Operation New Jersey Pride, a statewide accomplishment organized by the New Jersey Accompaniment Badge to advice accumulate law and adjustment in Puerto Rico in the deathwatch of Blow Maria. He was there from Oct. 21 to Nov. 4 with a accumulation accretion 100 law administration officers, all of whose salaries were paid by the federal government.
"We flew into San Juan and the airport looked like a apparition town," he said. "No one abroad was accepting off planes, accepting baggage."
After their aboriginal assigned auberge in the boondocks of Dorado was begin to accept atramentous cast everywhere, Bernard and 21 others were bused to the Hilton in San Juan. It had a architect and active water.
"They had huge admirers on," he said. "You smelled the dampness. Walls were actuality agape bottomward because of mold."
The Hilton would be his home abroad from home for 14 days, rooming with addition badge administrator and actuality allotment of a four-man aggregation who would be out acceptable the Puerto Rican Accompaniment Badge in Caguas, a burghal about 25 afar southwest of San Juan, a burghal that took a absolute hit from Maria.
"These admiral from Caguas were alive 12 hours a day aback afore the hurricane. Most of them didn't accept uniforms. They were cutting their approved clothes. They didn't accept power, so they couldn't ablution their uniforms. They wore assorted every-day shirts and their gun belts. They had no radios. They announced by bouncing anniversary added bottomward or cellphones."
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Bernard's accumulation of 22 admiral was disconnected into bristles convoying teams of four additional two supervisors. Anniversary aggregation was accustomed a apparent New Jersey Accompaniment Badge car (26 were alien to the island and will abide there as a donation) and one accessory phone.
"The buzz formed 90% of the time. But one day for like 6 hours, there was no communication, alike accessory phones. I don't apperceive what happened, but we were ambidextrous with a annexation adventure and we couldn't get in blow with anyone else."
That adventure concluded affably after an arrest, but abomination and abandon is a alarming byproduct of the blow aftermath.
"There were several letters of bodies accepting their generator, accepting their aliment and water, again walking out to their car and accepting beggared by assemblage associates and bodies who were desperate," said Bernard, whose aggregation spent time accouterment aegis at aliment and baptize administration points, anniversary of which had its own adventure of misery.
"We were out and about in parking lots, in the lines, watching people. Some supermarkets with generators were accessible but there were bound amounts of everything. There were curve three football fields long. You were alone accustomed one bag of ice, one case of water. So they're cat-and-mouse in line, it's 90 degrees outside, aback home there's no power. Bodies were acutely frustrated. Bigger aliment like Home Depot would get, like, 25 generators at a time every brace days. So bodies would band up at 4 o'clock in the afternoon the day afore for the abutting morning. Afore we arrived, the badge in Caguas were aggravating to do aegis at these administration credibility but they aloof didn't accept the manpower."
Because there is no electricity, there are no alive cartage lights.
"They accept seven-lane highways like we accept actuality in NJ," said Bernard, abandoning his team's added above assignment, cartage control. "The cars are affair at intersections with no lights. It's a chargeless for all. We saw accidents everywhere. Cars were on the ancillary of the alley because they ran out of ammunition or because they were disabled or addled and couldn't get a tow truck. Or, bodies would cull over because at assorted credibility on the highway, there was cellphone service, little pockets of account area bodies would accumulate to use their phones.
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"We were abating the bounded badge admiral from cartage posts so they could actually go into the boondocks and acknowledgment calls. It was a huge advice for them. Again, they'd had no canicule off. The posts bare to be manned because the cartage was actually gridlocked. I've never apparent cartage like that before. Alike the amateur were actuality used."
Officer Bernard's abiding memories from the 14-day cruise amble on the abundant spirit of the bodies he met everywhere.
"They would appear up to us and say 'thank you'. What I found, which will stick with me forever, was that a lot of bodies were so optimistic. They were activity home to no power, no anything. They would see us and say acknowledge you for actuality here, acknowledge you for allowance us. We would see bodies who aloof accomplished cat-and-mouse in band for two hours to get baptize and aliment drive up to us and offer us water. They'd say acknowledge you, can I give you water?"
Caguas has become a attribute of the animation of Puerto Rico during this aggravating time. And no one personifies that animation added than Ralffy Diaz Reyes, a Caguas badge administrator who absent a leg in a canoeing blow 20 years ago. He got permission to acknowledgment to assignment in 2009, alike with alone one leg, and can be apparent consistently administering cartage on one leg and crutches.
"He was out there administering cartage in the heat, alarming his blare with one leg," said Bernard. "And I befuddled his hand. It was unbelievable."
Bernard was effusive in his acclaim for the New Jersey Accompaniment Police, who organized the cruise in the face of amazing logistical challenges.
"I accord so abundant acclaim to the accompaniment police, the way they were able to put calm 24 badge agencies to assignment together. They were able to be self-sufficient, accepting cartage there, aliment water, housing. The way they ran the operation was actually amazing.
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"The badge admiral I was with, it didn't amount how continued the assignment day was, it was what abroad can I do? What abroad can I advice you with? It was such a abundant activity to be a allotment of that team."
Bernard's parents are from Puerto Rico and he has aunts, uncles and cousins on the island. He was able to appointment some of them briefly during the trip.
"They're exhausted," he said.
"I couldn't be prouder of Elliott," said Fanwood Badge Chief Richard Trigo. "He did abundant assignment bottomward there and represented us in the best accessible way. I acknowledge our Mayor, Colleen Mahr, giving us the blooming light."
"This was an accessible decision," said Mayor Mahr. "The Borough Council and I are appreciative that Elliott represented us in acknowledging Puerto Rico's recovery."
Submitted by the Borough of Fanwood
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