Community Corner
A Look Back at 34 Inches of Snow in Christmas 2010 Blizzard
Storm cost Brick more than $1.4 million
By Daniel Nee
The Christmas blizzard of 2010 began Dec. 26 and didn't stop until it had dropped 34 inches of snow on Brick Township. A look back at some of the statistics:
- 34 inches of snow
- $1.4 million in cleanup costs
- 49 out of Brick Township’s 72 trucks stuck in the snow
- 11 ambulances stuck in snow drifts
- 29,000 calls to town hall
The blizzard that during the late afternoon hours Dec. 26, 2010 was one for the books. The storm lasted until late morning the following day, and most Brick residents hadn't been able to leave their homes for several more days.
The township began its snow removal operation before the flakes began falling, Dec. 26, at 2 a.m. Trucks dispatched from the public works facility on Ridge Road began salting and pouring brine solution on township roads, and plows were out by late afternoon that same day. However, at 11 p.m. on Dec. 26, plows were called back after white-out conditions.
No pieces of equipment were spared. A tandem dump truck became stuck about 100 yards from the Ridge Road facility, Councilman Michael Thulen said after the storm. Officials sent a vehicle designed to retrieve disabled Army tanks to remove the tandem, but the retrieval vehicle blew its transmission during the towing operation.
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At one point or another during the storm, 49 out of the township’s 72 trucks were stuck in the snow or otherwise disabled in some way, Thulen said at the time.
The township was plagued by mishaps during the snow removal operation, including reports that contractors called in to supplement municipal crews left Brick because they were to be paid more money for their services in neighboring towns. In the end, out-of-state crews were brought in to make township streets passable again, but not before residents were about what they saw as a too-slow response despite the storm's historic power.
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