Galloway Middle School Now Open For Those Who Need Shelter

As of 1 p.m., the has opened as a shelter for those without shelter of electricity in the wake of Friday night's sever wind storm, in which 70 mile an hour winds tore through the Mid-Atlantic Region. Earlier today, the Atlantic County Office of Emergency Preparedness issued a for the county.

Earlier in the day, the county opened six branches of the Atlantic County Library System, available for relief, including , Brigantine, Egg Harbor City, Hammonton, Pleasantville and Ventnor.

According to Galloway Township Director of Emergency Management Michael Brandenberger, no others are planned to be opened at this time.

The middle school is running on regular power, according to Superintendent of Schools Dr. Annette Giaquinto. Six staff members are assisting on site.

"Reeds Road also has power, but we needed just one site, and the middle school is bigger," Giaquinto said. "It has the bigger cafeteria and the faculty dining room is being used as a nurse's station. We are prepared to be here for a couple of days."

American Red Cross is on the scene, alongside Galloway Democratic Club Chair Michael Suleiman, township and school representatives who are volunteering.

was serving food at the shelter.

Cots were being set up in the cafeteria and the faculty dining room, to be used as needed, and water is available. According to Councilman Brian Tyrrell, who is acting as a volunteer on the scene, a bus of 35 residents from Countryside Meadows apartments is on its way to the school.

"I woke up in the middle of the night and my power was going off and on," said Virginia Killian, one of five Countrside Meadows occupants already at the middle school. "I could hear a couple of trees crash behind us. There were several that fell a few apartments away."

Residents who were already on the scene were drinking water, playing board games and doing crossword puzzles. They were taking advantage of the power at the school to escape their apartment units that have none, including air conditioning during a heat wave that warrnted an advisory from the county earlier this week.

"I can't be there without air conditioning," Killian said. "It's so hot. I'm not used to the 105 degree weather."

Pockets of the township currently have power, and others are completely without it. Many businesses in the township closed on Saturday due to lack of power, which could be a problem for several days, according to Atlantic City Electric.

"(How long the shelter is open) depends on how long we're without power," Tyrrell said. "There's a great deal of speculation we could be looking at a week without power."