INSIDE THIS WEEK: Residents Irked After Decision About Tabernacle Rescue Squad’s Fate Postponed Again - Pg.4
PINE BARRENS TRIBUNE www.pinebarrenstribune.com
Vol. 2 – No. 28
facebook.com/pinebarrenstribune
@PineBarrensNews
The News Leader of the Pines To Advertise Affordably Call: 609-801-2392
March 10, 2018 – March 16, 2018
Walloped. Twice. PHOTO SUBMITTED
Trees and tree branches fall on powerlines in Medford Lakes causing them to arc on the street.
Nor’easter Topples Trees and Powerlines Leaving Hundreds Without Power for Days By Douglas D. Melegari
By Douglas D. Melegari
Staff Writer
PEMBERTON—A powerful Nor'easter that brought heavy rain, high winds and some snow last week to the Pine Barrens did not spare the home of Joe Gallagher who lives in the Browns Mills section of Pemberton Township. Joe Gallagher was on the phone with his brother in Wyoming, Dan, just after 4 p.m. on March 2 when an estimated 80 to 100 ft. tall pine tree came crashing down on his home. “It fell into his living room and just missed my brother,” Dan Gallagher said. “It sounded bad on the phone, I can only imagine what it was like almost dropping on his head.” Joe Gallagher said the incident shocked him, especially since the tree was “perfectly green,” but that he was uninjured. “It was a massive tree,” he said. “The trees around here always withstood storms.” Removing the massive tree required a major undertaking. Joe Gallagher’s neighbors, without being asked, offered to save his home.
Late-Season Winter Storm Causes Extensive Power Loss and Lightning-Related Injury Staff Writer
“It was a big operation for a bunch of neighbors,” Dan Gallagher said. “The people who stepped up deserve to be mentioned. It is nice that good people still exist out there and were willing to save someone’s house, which happens to be my brother’s house.” Leonn Rosenberg, owner of MacRose Contractors in Browns Mills, was one of the first people to come to Joe Gallagher’s aid. He pulled up to the home with a front-end loader and boom truck. “They had to get a big front-end loader to get the tree off the home,” Joe Gallagher said. “We cut the tree into several 60 to 70 lb. pieces.” Joe Gallagher said Jenkins Well Drilling and local contractor Scott McPherson also assisted him throughout last weekend in making temporary repairs to his home and cleaning up debris. “We had to replace six rafters, six sheets of plywood and pull shingles off the existing roof,”
TREES>>PAGE 9
MEDFORD—The sounds and sights of nature were on full-display as a late-season Nor’easter (coastal low)—the second one in less than a week—walloped the Pine Barrens on March 6 and 7, creating damage and injury. A mixture of rain and wet snow developed late Tuesday night, before the precipitation changed over to wet snow around 2 a.m. Wednesday. A coating to an inch of snow accumulated by 5 a.m., before the precipitation changed back over to rain. By 11 a.m., however, the offshore low rapidly intensified off the New Jersey coastline, allowing precipitation rates to intensify. The intense precipitation helped to drag colder air aloft down to the surface, resulting in the rain switching over to frozen precipitation from west to east.
During the transition period, heavy sleet was reported in central and southeastern portions of the Pines. The sleet caused roads to rapidly turn slushy with patches of ice, resulting in numerous crashes. “Multiple motor-vehicle crashes are now coming in,” wrote the New Gretna Volunteer Fire Co. on social media. “Please use caution and stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary.” By 12:47 p.m., thundersleet and thundersnow, an unusual occurrence during a winter storm, was reported throughout the Pines. Witnesses posted on local social media groups to express their fascination with the phenomena, some expressing that it was the first-time ever in their lifetime that they got an opportunity to see and hear thundersleet and thundersnow. By 2 p.m., fascination turned to anxiety as
LOSS>>PAGE 16
Now Direct Mailed to Over 2,250 Homes in LeisureTowne and 195 Homes in Hampton Lakes
****ECRWSS**** LOCAL POSTAL CUSTOMER
Vincentown, NJ Permit 190
PAID Presorted Standard US Postage