Back-to-back winter storms that brought up to 24 inches of snow to parts of New Jersey in late January and February exposed a shortage of snow removal resources for seniors in Mercer County, leaving neighbors and nonprofit groups scrambling to help.
A 51-year-old Hamilton native, Brett Hogan, said, “When I looked outside [on January 26] I saw a lot of snow and a lot of work ahead of me. It took about an hour and a half to clear the driveway and sidewalk.”
But his responsibilities did not end there. Like many New Jerseyans, he has family members who need help.
“The day before the storm hit I knew I was going to have to [shovel for my mother],” he continued. “I was worried that [the snow] would freeze over and break up, and I was also worried that someone would complain that it wasn’t removed in a timely manner because she lives on a corner lot where there’s a lot of sidewalk,” Hogan said.
The weight of the snow was a major factor in the first storm.
Dr. Anthony J. Broccoli, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Rutgers University and Co-Director of the Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute, said, “One of the unusual things about [the January] storm is that in addition to getting a lot of snow, we got a lot of sleet, and a little bit of freezing rain, and that made the snow removal extremely difficult.”
He said, “In some places it was only freezing rain and that’s very dangerous because freezing rain is when the water falls as a liquid then freezes when it hits the surface. It can also bring down trees and power lines.”
Because of these conditions, local organizations were limited in the services they could provide.
Evita Gíron is the Program Coordinator of “Neighbors Helping Neighbors” within Interfaith Caregivers of Greater Mercer County, a nonprofit organization that, among other things, “provides free nonmedical services to the homebound elderly.”
February 23rd in Princeton, New Jersey which received 17.5 inches of snow in the second of two back to back winter storms. PHOTO | Courtney Richter
Gíron said, “I find that one of the challenges we discovered was that there’s not many resources in Mercer County for seniors that need assistance with snow removal or shoveling.”
She added, “We received a lot of calls from care receivers and from different people in our communities who were like, ‘Do you guys know of any township snow removal help?’ and there’s really not any.”
The lack of resources became clear a few days after the storm.
As a result, Gíron said, “We’ve decided to take it upon ourselves to see if we can find resources. I created a digital and print folder to try and collect information so that the next time around we at least have some resources that we can direct people to.”
Because of the lack of resources, some neighbors decided to help those around them.
Ewing native Lawson McElroy III said, “I decided to ask my neighbor because he’s much older and I know he didn’t have any assistance so I helped him out.”
McElroy ended up taking on a job that turned into an extended one.
“He had a much wider driveway so it took about two to two and a half hours,” McElroy said.
In addition to helping others, he also had his own driveway to clear.
“To clean my driveway it took about an hour and a half to two hours. My car and my mom’s took two hours,” McElroy said.
The lengthy cleanup was the result of specific weather conditions.
Dr. Broccoli said, “To get a big storm like this you need a combination of cold air and a lot of moisture. We had the combination of the moisture coming from the southwest, and the air coming from the northwest.”
He added, “This winter will probably be colder than most of the recent winters have been.”
Indeed, the January storm was followed by two weeks of bitterly cold temperatures that led up to the February storm.
