While the eastern-most regions of South Jersey were, for the most part, spared from the tragedy that Hurricane Ida is turning out to be, the same can't be said for South Jersey residents to the west.

If you look at New Jersey on a map and slice it up, South Jersey isn't only composed of just Atlantic, Cape May, and Cumberland counties. Although a lot of us from this part of the state don't consider Gloucester, Camden, Burlington, and even parts of Ocean County "South Jersey", the map doesn't lie. They are. If you have an argument against that, well, take a look at Google Maps, or, maybe even a good ole' fashioned paper one.

If you still don't get it, here's your geography lesson for the day: when you make your way towards Philadelphia, you're not traveling north, you're traveling west. So, whether you'd care to admit it or not, those areas right outside of the city are still part of South Jersey. The fact that geography we're supposed to have learned in grade school is lost on so many people within this region is, quite frankly, mind-boggling.

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Hurricane Ida ravaged through towns in Gloucester and Salem counties this week. Multiple tornadoes caused, for some, an insurmountable amount of damage throughout a bunch of neighborhoods. Not only there, but a bunch of places up north (in ACTUAL North Jersey) were impacted significantly. Clean-up will seem to drag on for a long time for our fellow Jersey residents to our north and west. It's almost like the damage they didn't experience as a result of Hurricane Sandy came back to bite them in the butt with Ida. Our roles were reversed. Atlantic, Cape May, and even parts of Ocean and Cumberland counties were SLAMMED by Hurricane Sandy back in 2012. Luckily, Ida basically bypassed our entire region.

While this region wasn't necessarily impacted by this week's storm, that's not to say it wasn't an awful experience elsewhere. In fact, Ida's now been deemed New Jersey's second deadliest storm coming in second to Hurricane Sandy. Death tolls weren't initially being reported, but now there have been 25 reported deaths so far, with that number expected to rise in the coming days.

Whether you have family living in the impacted areas or not, this a time to come together as NJ residents and support those in need after this storm as best we can. Hopefully, the death toll doesn't continue to rise too high. Only time will tell.

Source: NJ.com



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