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Health & Fitness

A big thank you to the Radnor Township Staff

I hope you are safe and well and that the power outages are over and were nothing more than a huge inconvenience for you. My power was out also and I quickly determined that I was not cut out to be a pioneer. I like my internet and cable TV far too much (not to mention a warm house.)

At the peak we had over 9,500 households without power in Radnor. That is quite remarkable considering that the total number of households is slightly less than 12,000. There were at least 90 roads blocked due to fallen trees and many of these involved "wires" so that our employees are not permitted to remove them. We were at the mercy of PECo and Pendot to reopen some of our streets and had no bargaining chips other than personal friendships to help expedite that process. I am sure you recognize that this was one of the worst storms in history for PECo. The last report I saw indicated that there were still several hundred houses without power in Radnor.

Our employees were great, whether it was public works cleaning up and salting roadways, the Police  closing roads and performing extra patrols or the Admin staff who helped staff the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) 24/7.  They all rose to the occasion and were very professional in their duties.  Many of these folks also had to deal with power outages and fallen trees at their own homes. The School District also stepped up and provided two crews and equipment to help clear our streets.

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The Township Building was kept open around the clock, served as our EOC and was also a Red Cross warming station. Having the phones staffed around the clock  is very important during emergencies. I can't imagine anything more frustrating than calling the Township only to get a recorded message. Only a handful of people stayed overnight but in those cases the staff made sure that they were as comfortable as possible and were fed. Many, many folks came to the Building to charge their cell phones, smart phones or tablets.

My only disappointment during this situation was the behavior of some of our neighbors. I spent time at the EOC and was amazed to hear how rude and disrespectful some folks were during their calls. There were cases that exceeded rudeness involving screaming and cursing. This is just unacceptable. The staff did a good job of dealing with this problem. This wasn't the only bad behavior issue. The number of people who drove around barriers for blocked streets just amazed me. We had a case where someone ran through caution tape as the staff was putting it up. The excuse was that they needed to get to work. Guess what? They didn't make it on that roadway. The barricades and caution tape are placed for your safety. If you lived on a closed street I can understand your going around the barrier but still will not endorse that. Most amazing of all were folks who chose to drive under fallen trees that were across the roadway. Grossly unsound decision. You have no idea if the tree is going to fall further or if there is a power line causing the tree to be energized. Please folks. An abundance of caution is appropriate. Unless you are rushing someone to the emergency room there is just no excuse.

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Again, thank you Township Staff for all your hard work.

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