Community Corner

Power Restored, Schools Reopen in Sandy Aftermath

Hopatcong starts returning to normalcy two weeks after storm.

Hopatcong has started to slowly settle back in to normal life two weeks after Hurricane Sandy completely shut down the borough and displaced hundreds of residents.

While it is going to be a while before the borough can fully recover from the damage from the storm, the town is on the right track in returning to normalcy.

As of Sunday night, the majority of the borough had its power restored, which allowed for the closure of the Hopatcong High School shelter and reopening of schools.

Find out what's happening in Hopatcong-Spartawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The largest drop in outages occurred on Friday night, where . Throughout the weekend, more residents reported having power back and contributed to our interactive map by listing out the streets that had lights come on.

The Middle School and elementary schools will reopen on Tuesday after losing 10 school days. The parent-teacher conferences will be postponed until further notice, and the schools will run on full days instead of the original half-days listed on the schedule.

Find out what's happening in Hopatcong-Spartawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Hopatong High School is opening a day later on Wednesday because of all of the cleaning that needs to be done after it served as a home for hundreds of people the past two weeks.

Mayor Sylvia released a statement Monday afternoon saying the borough's communication to the public was the biggest issue after Sandy. 

"We continue to question our utilities and seek the answers as to why communications was poor and inaccurate and why power restoration took so long," she said. "We are in contact with the County and State officials demanding action."

Petillo said officials have already started to examine ways to improve social media and other forms of communication "that will improve our abilities to communicate promptly, accurately and to a greater number of our residents."

The Hopatcong Borough Council meeting that was postponed last week will be held on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Municipal Building. Petillo said the officials will have a report on Sandy at the meeting.


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