Residents Find Refuge in Elementary School

Township officials were clear from the start: Lake Hiawatha Elementary School, Parsippany's Evacuation Staging Center for Hurricane Irene, was not a shelter. For as many as 150 people away from home, however, it has been and continues to be a refuge, a real port in a storm.

The center opened Saturday at 8 p.m. Raindrops fell at the time, but this was before Irene arrived in full fury. Parsippany Police said Lake Hiawatha School would serve as a waystation for displaced people in the event the storm created conditions—power outages, flooding—requiring a mass evacuation. Residents in need would find there a place to decompress, get medical support and find resources to help them find longer-term shelter.

"This place isn't set up for sleeping," said Nora Jolie, a senior team leader for the Community Emergency Response Team, a branch of Parsippany's Office of Emergency Management. "Besides, we only have 50 cots, and we have 60 residents requesting cots."

CERT and OEM workers have played a huge role in staffing the center, as have representatives of Par-Troy Emergency Medical Services, township staff (Business Administrator Jasmine Lim was there helping to stock supplies) and even concerned citizen volunteers. 

Not many people needed the help early in the storm. Barbara Ievoli, the town's director of human services, and others set up the school gymnasium and waited. A few people came in, but it wasn't until after most people thought the storm was over that the center grew busy. 

First, the number of power outages began to multiply. Then, neighborhoods started to flood. The Rockaway River breached its floodwall and unleashed rushing waters onto lower Lake Hiawatha, forcing evacuations. Finally, flooding forced guests to flee from the Holiday Inn and Howard Johnson hotels on Route 46. Many evacuees had to be pulled from flood waters and/or transported by boat or truck by members of agencies including Parsippany Rescue and Recovery, the Rockaway Neck Volunteer First Aid Squad, Lake Hiawatha Fire Department and the Parsippany Police Department.

Starting Sunday night at about 7 p.m., displaced residents—some voluntarily, some less so, most after enduring grueling experiences—came looking for help.

"Some were still in shock. Some didn't understand what we provided," Jolie said. "We explained that we're just a stop for them take a breather and to figure out what they're going to do."

Not all of the evacuees are Parsippany residents. CERT member Joan Mahon said the hotel guests came from a virtual United Nations.

"We've had people from Australia, Germany, Brazil, Colombia," she said. "I'm not sure how long it will take for the hotel people to be able to go back and get their things."

Lajos "Lou" Bartucz, a security officer and CERT member, said those who visited the center had three choices.

"They can call a friend or family member to stay with them. They can go to a hotel. And some end up staying here overnight," he said. "We have phones so they can make calls."

Jolie notes that some used the phones to call for delivery.

"The delivery guy came in, and he didn't have the name, so he just yelled, 'Who ordered 30 wings?' "Who got the pizza?,'" she recalled.

Mahon said there is also an Internet connection provided to evacuees.

"We help them with finding information about hotels, and they can use the Internet to look for help, rental cars, other hotels, information on roads and trains," Mahon explained. "We give out directions and we've even given out restaurant recommendations."

The center offers more than phones and cyberspace. Juice, water and snack items are on hand, much of it donated by Super Foodtown supermarket in Lake Hiawatha. There is a big flat-screen television on the wall. There are coloring books, Lincoln Logs and crayons for kids. Though animals really aren't permitted in the building, there are even pet carriers to hold displaced dogs and cats. 

"Chris [Dikovics] from Animal Control was here to help," Jolie said. "So many people are pitching in here. The Yogi Divine Society next door offered us tables and chairs and gave us [a huge silver urn of] hot coffee; they've even given us extra space in their building if we need it."

Officials say there have been 400 residents and 200 hotel guests evacuated since Irene was here. The center staff estimate that between 100 and 150 of them have ended up at Lake Hiawatha School. 

"Some left already. There are about 60 people here at any given time," Bartucz said. "They come and go."

If Veronica Denis and her sister Lione James are any indication, the time spent there is appreciated.

Denis, who described seeing "waist-high" water in her home on Sioux Avenue in lower Hiawatha, said they would be in the center overnight.
She has great praise for the evacuation staging center and its volunteers.

"These are wonderful people. God bless them," she said. "They are nice, courteous, helpful... You couldn't want better at a time like this."

Officials say it may be another day or more before residents can go back to their homes. Until that time, Lake Hiawatha will be a refuge for Parsippany residents who need help.

"We'll be here 24/7 'til it's over," Bartucz said. "We'll be here 'til the end."