Jersey police chief is force of calm in Sandy's wake

• Mastronardy has served as Toms River, N.J., police chief for two decades
• He makes trips for evacuated residents to find medicine and pets
• Duties include police operations, media tours and calls with the president

TOMS RIVER TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- Police Chief Michael Mastronardy's socks are soaked and his navy blue uniform is covered with tufts of cat hair. Tipper, a skittish cat he rescued from the northern barrier island on the New Jersey shore, cowers in a corner under the back seat.

He's got to get back to Tipper's owner fast because he has a conference call in less than 30 minutes with President Obama and Gov. Chris Christie. "We've been busy," he says to describe a non-stop day that began at 4:15 a.m.

Mastronardy, chief of this community of 90,000 for two decades, has been a one-man restoration crew since Superstorm Sandy blew through. He has directed police operations, led media tours of devastated areas on the Jersey shore and calmed residents worried about the condition of their homes and status of pets they had to leave behind.

A burly man with a gruff exterior that masks a wry sense of humor and a streak of kindness, he's been a steady hand in the aftermath of the storm. During a press conference Thursday at the foot of the bridge that leads to the northern barrier island, Mastronardy talked with residents frustrated that they couldn't get on the island to see their homes.

Jack Sauer, who owns a house in Lavallette, wanted to know how long it would be before residents could get back on the island.

"The governor said get the hell off the beach," Sauer says. "Fine. Now we need to get the hell on the beach. I understand they want to start rebuilding, but then they need to let us get there to do it."

Kate and Jerry Gioglio wanted to know not just how their home fared, but also the fate of their 3-year-old cat, Tipper. They were on vacation when the storm hit, so the cat was alone.

Meanwhile, Giuseppe Padovano, 68, had run out of three days' worth of insulin that he had taken with him when he evacuated and he needed more -- fast.

Mastronardy explained that the destruction made it too dangerous for residents to go back right now. Instead, he took their names and phone numbers and promised to go check on homes, get medicines, find pets and, in one case, bring over the wedding dress of a resident's daughter.

Mastronardy, like other officials, won't commit to a time frame for when residents will be allowed back in. He says that first the roads need to be cleared and gas turned off and inspectors need to make sure that the structures still standing are safe to enter.

So he made trips for them. On his way to pick up Padovano's medicine, he is stopped by state troopers trying to get a ride for two residents who want to be evacuated off the island. Since the storm, about 400 people have been taken out. Mastronardy calls it in and keeps moving. He skirts around a road blocked by a house that was swept off its foundation and landed in the middle of the street.

At Padovano's house, a gas worker shuts the gas off. He is helping several crews going door-to-door shutting off the gas in each property so fires don't break out. Padovano runs inside and grabs five boxes of insulin and a box of needles.

Mastronardy ribs him that he took too long. "I thought you were changing in there. I thought you'd come out in a suit and tie."

Padovano laughs. "Now I can live a little longer," he says.

Mastronardy makes more stops, photographing homes with his cellphone to show the owners. He drives by parks that washed away in the storm. The swings and slides, now surrounded by water, look as if they are part of the bay.

His last stop on this trip -- he will make several more during the day including one by helicopter -- is to find the Gioglios' cat. He leaves the house 15 minutes later, clutching the feline.

"I thought that was going to be easy," he says, breathing hard as he climbs into the truck. "You don't know what I went through. "

He had to coax the cat out from under a couch and had taken off his shoes and walked on the wet carpet so he wouldn't leave tracks of mud in the house.

With Tipper safely in his owner's arms, Mastronardy races to the county airport, where he learns he's doing a helicopter flyover of the stricken area with the state attorney general. But not before he participates on a conference call with the president and governor to update them on the cleanup.

"As chief of police, you do what you have to do to get it done," he says.