Roland Rogers Converted Into Food Distribution Center

The distribution center at is two-thirds full, and Galloway Emergency Management officials were transporting evacuees who had made their way to the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey to the Sun Center in Trenton late Friday night, Aug. 26.

As of 6:30 p.m. Friday night, Aug. 26, Galloway Township officials, including Township Manager Steve Bonanni, were helping the Red Cross set up cots, and the Salvation Army was to bring food. It was possible that would be set up in the same capacity, but no official decision had been made yet.

Earlier in the day, St. Augustine Prep School in Richland was set up as a shelter where people who live in evacuated areas but have nowhere else to go could take refuge.

With shelters filling up, people from those mandatory evacuation areas were being sent to the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

Chuck Uhl was one of the officials called to the scene, and said there were "1,000 people here when we showed up."

He said evacuees were usually sent straight to the shelters, but were being sent to Stockton while they waited for a new destination, and the Stockton parking lot by the "Big Blue" gymnasium filled up quickly.

Officials on the scene had to begin redirecting buses before they entered the parking lot, and just before 10 p.m., had selected the Sun Center in Trenton as the destination for those still on the scene.

Meanwhile, there were about 155 people at the Roland Rogers School, according to Marilyn Moore, an official with the Galloway Township School District.

No medical help is being distributed at Roland Rogers. Medical facilities had been set up at Stockton, as a precaution for those with medical conditions. No serious incidents of injury or illness were reported.

Township officials met early Friday evening to discuss their emergency management plan prior to setting up the distribution center at Roland Rogers.

"We just wanted to make sure fire, ambulance and police were coordinating," Bonanni said. "We'll have strike teams set up at each fire house throughout the township, so that when this is over, we're ready to go."

No new evacuations affecting Galloway Township were announced on Friday. On Thursday, Aug. 25, all areas east of Rt. 9, including parts of Galloway Township, were told to evacuate beginning at 6 a.m. Friday morning.

The core of Hurricane Irene was forecast by the National Weather Service to approach the coast of North Carolina Friday night, and pass near or over North Carolina's coast on Saturday. It was expected to reach the Mid-Atlantic Coast Saturday night, Aug. 27.

Maximum sustained winds are at 100 miles an hour, and it is currently classified as a Category 2 hurricane. Some weakening is expected, but Irene is expected to remain a hurricane as it approaches the mid-Atlantic coast on Saturday, the National Weather Service said.

All of Cape May County was ordered to evacuate on Thursday, as were all areas east of Rt. 9. Bonanni warned that even those who haven't been ordered to evacuate should strongly consider leaving the area.

"If you're east of Rt. 9, get out," Bonanni said. "Even if you're not, evacuate if you can. If you can't, bunker down."