Weary Public Works Employees Persevere Nearly One Month After Hurricane Sandy

They rise in the early morning chill, to begin their workday at 6:30 a.m. They finish in the gloom of a late November evening, when it's too dark to see.

They have done this every day but one since Hurricane Sandy slammed into Good Luck Point, Glen Cove, Pelican Island and Bayville. They had Thanksgiving off.

But the employees of the Berkeley Township Public Works Department persevere in the face of a nearly Sisyphean task of carting off as much debris from the superstorm as possible.

Nick Leary and John "Pizza" Gallo grin when asked how many hours they've put in since Sandy hit.

"Twelve hours a day, seven days a week," Leary said. "My back is killing me. My kids don't know who I am."

The trucks rumble up to yet another pile of insulation, plywood, shards of hardwood floors, sodden carpets, sheetrock, furniture and broken treasures. They take it all.

And despite the massive overtime, they still ache for the people of Berkeley Township.

"They thank us," Deputy Public Works Director Mark Vanella said, as a crew made the rounds on Shorewood Drive and Cove Road Sunday morning. "My guys get choked up. It's rough. It hurts us to see it."

"I'd rather not make money off of people's heartaches," he added.

Good Luck Point in Bayville was hit the hardest, said Vanella, who is in his 30th year with the Public Works Department.

"Total devastation," he said. "Houses are missing, gone. It's the worst I've ever seen.'"

Amazingly, the only injury so far during the entire operation came when Richie Musselwhite stepped on a rusty nail that went through his work boot and punctured his foot, Vanella said.

He estimates that between 60 to 70 percent of storm debris has been cleaned up, almost four weeks to the day the storm made a direct hit on Ocean County.

Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr. and every member of the Township Council showed up at the Public Works Department the morning after Thanksgiving with hot food and coffee from Manhattan Bagels, Vanella said.

"It was a nice spread," he said. "The guys really appreciated it. The whole council was there. It was nice."

Regular garbage pickup has already resumed and recycling pickup is now back on the regular schedule. But Vanella said he is behind on leaf pickups.

"I gotta catch up on my leaves," he said. "I'm behind on leaves."

After a good half hour at one stop Sunday morning, they were on to the next pile.

"We will be around again," he said. "We try to hit every area one time and then we go back."

And they won't stop until it's done.