The Governor is still driving around the state to assess the damage from the snow storm and said yesterday he wanted to see more before deciding whether to declare a state of emergency. This is his latest tweet:
Just met with Atlantic County officials and surveyed storm damage. Over 2 feet of snow. Now on to Cape May County.
Christie said he had also been in touch with Atlantic City Electric and discussed efforts to help restore power to the more than 50,000 customers in the region still without electricity.
"As the snow persists, the cost of plowing, cleaning and protecting our neighborhoods continues to mount," Andrews said in a statement. "With more and more families out of work and struggling to make ends meet, taxpayers cannont afford to pay the costs resulting from another blizzard -- emergency assistance will save money for taxpayers and decrease the burden on overstretched local budgets."
Other circumstances, such as heavy snowfall over an extended period of time, severe winds and extraordinary drifting, extraordinary ice formations, and the cumulative effect of snow on the ground may warrant assistance even if the snow depth does not exceed record snowfall levels. Snow removal assistance will be provided for a 48-hour period to address the most critical emergency needs.
This isn't just a partisan question. The Republican Governor of Virginia and Democratic Governors of Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania have already declared a state of emergency. Parts of New Jersey, which the Governor has already seen, arguably got hit just as bad if not worse than some of those areas. Some counties made the declaration on their own. What is the Governor waiting for? It's not like he has to stop touring the state once he makes the declaration. If over 2 feet of snow and over 50,000 without power the day after isn't an emergency, what is?
