On a scale of 1-10, I give HPD a 10 and I give the Mayor a 1.

I think people expect too much.
This was an unprecedented storm
I saw the mayor working at the high school, on the streets in several places assesing the situation, firemen came to our house to check on us and jcp&l did what they did and the mayor pushed them as much as she could.

The storm was, in a word, catastrophic. Nobody is denying that. We need only look out our windows to see the damage, drive down the roads and highways and see the downed trees, power poles, damaged or destroyed homes, and etc. We understand fully that typical means of communication - internet and phone - were cut, again due to the damage. After all, we experienced the same difficulty in contacting family members to let them know we were safe and confirm their own safety.

But I find it very difficult to believe that the town officials and police were caught so blind by this. Better, more robust plans for emergency communication in the event of massive power loss and communications lines destruction need to be developed. The police have bullhorns, I suspect? What was stopping them, after the winds had died down and the main danger passed, from passing through the streets with a general announcement and details on where to obtain more information? Why aren't their major bulletin boards in public areas throughout town upon which important announcements can be posted with something as simple as a printed sheet of paper? A Facebook page is an interesting thought, but if nobody is able to get a stable internet connection to read it, then it is of no practical use!

A plan that counts on a complete lack of modern communications methods - no phone, no internet - for extended periods must be created and centered around at least daily communication of safety information.

I don't see the poll on my mobile, but in general: communication by the police department via Lt. Kmetz on the department's facebook page was a lifesaver, as were the almost daily recorded calls from Superintendent of Schools Dr. Maranzano. Governor Christie proved to be an aggressive and competent emergency manager in the midst of the crisis. Communication from elected officials in Hopatcong itself was very little and very late. I do not have enough information to judge JCPL's performance.

Power is out again on Brooklyn Mountain Road south of Broadway, I assume a lot more areas are also down. JCP&L says it's planned work to, "switch us to a new power grid." No warning for this. Would have been considerate for someone to distribute this widely.

And as for "communication," I'd give every administrator in the boro an "F," with no exception. And that includes Police and DPW.

Agreed that we have never seen a storm such as this before. That being said, we heard about this hurricane coming for WEEKS before it's arrival. You couldn't turn on any evening news without it being the main story. This storm was far from a surprise and a plan should have been set up in advance. What would have been the harm if, in the end, we didn't need it?

Was a shelter with my family first week. I give cert team, police, emt, school phone calls and janitors an 10. As for mayor, jcp&l.. a 0...and the crisis counselor at shelter thank you. She helped my mother who lost house and car call insurance company's, fema and just sat and talked.. I didn't get her name but she helped my mother at this emotional time. She gets a 10 also. I met so many other Hopatcong Nieghbor from being at shelter who were there to talk, help watch each others kids, and borrow cell phone..

I showed up at the Red Cross shelter a number of times to both utilize as a resident in need, and also as a volunteer. The Red Cross did a fine job running a successful and professional operation. C.E.R.T., on the other hand, should have stepped away from the shelter once the initial set up was complete. The shelter was overrun by them. Community Emergency Response Team? When I needed drinking water and ice for my family where were they? (Firehouse ran out the times I went.) When there were downed trees blocking people from coming or going to their homes where were they? Did they check on the seniors or shut ins? (see Lurky Loo's comment above) Did anyone see CERT out and about in the community helping? Or did they just help themselves to milk and cookies at the high school? Seems to me they stood around the HS trying to look like an authority when they were needed everywhere else. The Red Cross had a total grip on the situation and CERT. . . Well they milked the situation.

I saw it posted somewhere else on the patch someone mentioned having the BOE in charge of communications. I agree, yes power and cell phones were down for a bit, but when I had cell service I always had an update as to what was going on in the schools. I live in the northwood area and we had two huge trees and wires across both ends of the roads making it hard to pass. We were trapped in our house for the few days after the storm, with no type of communication available. I applaude the BOE on how wonderfully they were able to keep me updated on the schools, and only knew of the shelter because of them. Thank you Dr. Charles Marranzano for your up to date calls and information.

Let us put Hurricane Sandy in perspective.
If you were prepared its was an adventure.
If you were not prepared it was an inconvenience.
For the aged, the frail. and those of diminished capacities it was a crisis.
If you lost your home it was a disaster.
If you lost a loved one it was a tragedy.
Jeff Guttenberger Hopatcong CERT

Its pretty easy to sit back and critique a situation after it has occurred. I think we should all learn from this experience and prepare for any future occurrence. I for one saw a lot of good people trying to do the best that they could under the circumstances, civilians, police, cert, neighbors and yes even the Mayor. If you're still above ground and your loved ones made it through this safely, thank God and stop complaining. There were many that were not as lucky. I am also proud to say that I live in Hopatcong and we are getting through this as well as can be expected. There were other places where they had all types of crime and craziness. With all the complaining and finger pointing, God help us if we were to have another more serious situation occur.

Michele and Micheal well said, those in emergency management understand that there needs to be several approaches to ensure mitigation of damage and communication. I had cell phone but no land line... before the storm hit i activated my phone to be a mobile hot sopt knowing that I would loose internet, I bought a battery charger, I booked hotel rooms figuring that it would take a least a week before power was restored. Once power was restored to the main business area in the first week, that would be an ideal place to disseminate information to people. We do not want excuses; we want to be assured that moving forward into the winter, with yet another noreaster headed our way we have put into place contingency plans.

I think the town did everything thing it possibly could they were all without power too.. when it went dark immediately a shelter was established(also a report on fox news as a very very well run shelter) thanks to red cross cert the mayor teachers police animal control ect they tried to help provide to the people what was lost or ones with the power out.. i say A+... where they lacked in communication they tried to fix i say B- for that although i didn't have any problems finding info out once in the 2 wks i was with out power, can u imagine what it would be like without social media!! As for the tree clean up i say D, and power companies NOT THE WORKERS the clueless people sitting in offices in Ohio, I'm investing in solar power and trimming my trees this year also getting a generator and making my household more self sufficient BECAUSE they definitely let the ball drop big time i say FAIL!!! They need improvement yes BUT we r alive and almost back to normal, for the amount of destruction and chaos Sandy caused we prevailed and in the two weeks since the storm I think we stand on firmer ground knowing what was good and bad and what we can do AS A COMMUNITY to never let this kind of disaster leave us all so helpless!!!!

The storm was massive. I'm sure very few of us expected the damage we received. Things can always improve. However , get in your car drive to town, or the shelter find out some info and bring that info back to your neighbors and those you know who don't drives yes it would have been nice for a back up system and now they are aware We are not NYC or Jersey shore. This stuff doesn't usually happen up here What did you do to prepare yourselves? I for one had no idea what a crank radio was. But I now have one. Fire dept checked on us and I received reverse 911 poles. I am no fan of our elected officials but they had put out warnings and numbers before the storm If you were able to prepare great , if you didn't that's too bad. We all learned from this. Lets hope we don't see this type if destruction again. The problems are addressed suggestions were given , make a plan with your neighbors, do what you have to do A lot if heroism in this town. Focus on the good and help to make suggestions to change the bad.

Response to Lakesider:
CERT was needed at the shelter throughout the crisis . The shelter was not over run with CERT members, it only seemed that way because we were runnning everywhere. The Red Cross provided, two meals a day, and a sleeping area. CERT and AmerCorps handled a staggering number of tasks, provide breakfast, coffee, snacks, ran errands to retrieve pets, pick up drugs, unload, sort, store, and distributed a mountain of donations, we pushed wheelchairs etc etc etc. In all this confusion we always took the time to stop and give comfort where needed, the Red Cross is not trained to do this. In past snow/ice storms we did door to door checks, survey power outages etc. With 35 active members we were short of human resources.
CERT needs more members not criticism, join CERT, then you can be part of the solution.

The police , Fire, and DPW all, in my opinion get a 10.... SUPER JOB!. The mayor did what she could. She worked hard at the shelter. She did lack in communication. For that I give her a 4 .... Question, where were the other council members( Ryder, Baker,Klein, Frances etc).. during this disaster? I understand they helped out at the shelter as well. Thats fine. But they could have been out there doing so much more.( Bullhorns, flyers, etc)... I was going door to door in my neighborhood to make sure everyone was ok, including the elderly and sick. Did they?

Response to Jeff G.
In past snow/ice storms?. . .give me a break. We're talking this storm! You were NOT where you were needed. The Red Cross had a complete handle on the situation. In fact they were turning away volunteers. You were not needed at the shelter for the duration, you were needed out in the community! So much for your name sake. You say the Red Cross is not trained to give comfort? Who are you kidding? They have Red Cross-specific training in psychological first aid! Like the town, (based on last nights meeting,) hopefully you learn from your mistakes.

Hopatcongpop -- Couldn't agree with you more!

i knew it would be a long time for power went to walmart bought digital antenna and cancelled cable and rode it out nothing else could be done.

cant think to much about a pole that took me more then 3 months to find on the Patch, i thought the police could have taken nap through that 2 weeks and no one would have known( F),dpw refused to open up roads or block off roads redirect traffic it was crazy for about a week near Modick with absolutely no way for drivers to figure or negociate travel out of town(F)The fire dept also didnt have a fire in the whole town but they couldnt find other things to do and for that they also get a (F)oh but i did see them carting santa around the town during the holidays