Chief: Manchester Ready for Hurricane Irene

As the first rain bands of Hurricane Irene began to drop sometimes heavy rains in Manchester Saturday afternoon, the township's police chief said that emergency responders are prepared for the storm as conditions are expected to further deteriorate heading into the night.

"All of our emergency services are in place," Chief of Police Brian Klimakowski said.

Fire, first aid, police and public works officials held a meeting Saturday afternoon to coordinate their efforts. They are all "in place" and ready to respond should emergency calls come in when the brunt of Hurricane Irene's force , Klimakowski said. Volunteers at the Ridgeway and Manchester fire houses were seen manning the stations as early as Saturday afternoon. 

"We'll take it on a case-by-case basis," said the township's Emergency Management Coordinator Arthur Abline. "All of our assets and resources will be in place."

Manchester will not establish any shelters, according to the chief. Yesterday, Abline said that county resources are spread thin and it was then unclear if the township would operate a refuge for residents.

Neighboring towns, such as Toms River, , but those areas have issued mandatory evacuations for some parts. No residents of Manchester have been told to leave.

Rather, a staging area will be established should any of the 3,700 residents deemed most at need by the township need help during the storm, Klimakowski said. 

"They're our primary concern," he said, as they may have medical equipment such as oxygen units that would not function should the power go out. A staging area will also help to decrease the burden on local hospitals receiving patients mainly requiring electricity for their equipment.

 have been a problem for the township before, and Abline said the already-saturated ground may make it easier for trees to topple as Hurricane Irene and its 85 mph winds — down from the 90 mph speed recorded earlier this morning — pass through.

"We're probably going to have more trees down and power outages," he said.

Klimakowski agreed.

"Our biggest concern is the heavy wind," he said.

Flooding may be a problem in Cedar Glen Lakes, though the fire department has spoken with residents about the potential for rising waters. Should flooding occur, Abline said that residents should not attempt to drive or walk through the water.

Meteorologist Steve DiMartino of NYNJPAWeather.com, told Patch that local residents shouldn't take a slight drop in maximum wind speed as proof that Irene is significantly weakening or that her threat is diminishing.

"I think that this hurricane is definitely going to retain itself for some time," he said, mainly because of its size and the low air pressure at its core. "This hurricane is very large, and the wind field is very large."

Yesterday, Abline, like countless other officials, urged . 

In an emergency, residents are asked to dial 9-1-1. Other non-emergency calls to police should be made to the department's main line, 732-657-2009. 

"Be safe. Don't go out in this weather," he said. "Let's ride it out and everyone be safe."