Barnegat To Issue Mandatory Evacuation for Several Neighborhoods

Barnegat officials have announced a mandatory evacuation for parts of the township ahead of the beginning Saturday at 8 a.m., and are making plans to set up a joint shelter for Barnegat and Waretown residents at .

Residents in the following areas will be given the order to leave their homes Saturday:

• Neighborhoods east of Ridgeway Street on Bayshore Drive and east of Powell Street on East Bay Avenue

• Brighton at Barnegat and Pinewood Estates neighborhoods

That's a total of about 1,700 residents, officials said.

A shelter for residents from both townships will be set up at the Brackman School, 550 Barnegat Blvd. The township elementary schools will also be ready to take in people if Brackman is filled, officials said. Altogether, the schools can hold 2,715 evacuees.

Manned barricades will be placed on Bayshore Drive at Ridgeway Street and on East Bay Avenue at Powell Drive Saturday morning, with traffic being allowed out but not in.

Shelters will provide food, water and sleeping cots, said township administrator David Breeden. Residents with pets will be directed to the regional county shelter at Southern Regional High School, 105 Cedar Bridge Road in Stafford Township. 

Those without acces to vehicles can call the Barnegat Township non-emergency number at 609-698-5000 to make transportation arrangements.

Shortly after , emergency management workers and township officials from both municipalities met for a joint discussion of evacuation and emergency preparedness plans Thursday afternoon at Barnegat's emergency management office on East Bay Avenue, going over the logistics of a coordinated effort to get residents to safety and respond to situations as they arise over the weekend.

"No single town has adequate resources to handle such a major event, but when we combine our efforts, we're much stronger," said Breeden.

Other communities in Ocean County have asked residents to leave before the storm as well. Long Beach Island officials announced that a mandatory evacuation for the island beginning at 8 a.m. Friday. The Toms River area barrier island towns of Ortley Beach, Dover Beaches, Ocean Beach, Pelican Island and neighboring communities of Seaside Park, Seaside Heights and Lavallette are under a voluntary evacuation.

Flooding due to a major storm surge and unusually high tides is the key concern for the eastern part of the townships, officials said, pointing to the major late-season storm in 1991 that left much of the area east of Route 9 under water.

The mobile homes in the Brighton at Barnegat and Pinewood Estates neighborhoods are not designed to withstand a hurricane, said Barnegat Emergency Management Coordinator Lt. Keith Germain, so those residents are also being moved to safety. 

Stay alert to updates from the township through its Internet-based reverse 911 system, Nixle. It's free to sign up, and can send emergency information straight to your phone or email inbox.