I want to clarify the last post. The hurricane brought a lot of damage throughout the region. I meant only that it was underwhelming relative to what we readied ourselves for. Nine people died in New Jersey. About 188,000 buildings remain without power. The storm bought a tremendous flood. Here's a review:
Reuters reports from Fairfield, NJ:
In Fairfield, New Jersey, about 20 homes near the Passaic River were submerged, some in at least five feet (1.5 metres) of water. Some people waded chest high or rode canoes down the street, while others just sat and witnessed the flood from their stoops. "This is the worst flood we have ever had," said Mike Chiafulio, 52, who could only watch as the water continued to rise around his mother's house. He said the flooding exceeding what he remembered from notable floods in 1968 and 1984.
Fairfield took a hard hit. From the Star-Ledger:
The township of Fairfield has been devastated, with the Passaic River still rising and moving faster than anticipated, according to Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura.
The county is putting together a rapid deployment team made up of officers from throughout the county, Fontoura said earlier today. About 30 members of the National Guard are helping with the emergency response, he said.
“People are going to be on an island for a couple of days,” Fontoura said. “It’s going to be devasting. The worst is all to come.” ...
Fairfield is being locked down as the township wrestles with an overflowing Passaic River and rising flood waters.
Three checkpoints are being set up and only residents will be allowed into the township.
"We are literally going to close down Fairfield," said Anthony Manna, the township's deputy police chief.
The Passaic River is expected to crest Tuesday morning, and waters could continue to rise until then, Manna said.
"You will see the waters in certain areas start to rise as its decreasing in other," he said. "It's finding its way back to the river banks."
The sewer system is strained and traffic is snarled throughout the township, Manna said. Road blocks will be set up.
The three checkpoints into Fairfield will be at the intersection of Route 46 and Clinton Road, on Two Bridges Road near Route 80, and at the intersection of Passaic Avenue near Green Brook Road.
Route 18 in New Brunswick is flooded:
Overnight, the waters flooding residential neighborhoods in downtown New Brunswick receded, leaving some streets looking as if they had only been hit by a heavy rainstorm. The Albany Street bridge, an important gateway into the city, remained closed because of flooding conditions.
Hundreds of residents were evacuated Saturday night and Sunday from apartment buildings as flood waters spilled over a city park, Route 18 and two blocks near the Frog and the Peach restaurant.
Fire officials have said the low-lying areas will confront flood waters again tonight when the river is scheduled to crest.
"We’re expecting it to rise a couple of more times through the night,’‘ New Brunswick Fire Director Robert Rawls said.
The leafy suburb of Maplewood some 20 miles (32 km) west of New York City was jarred by the sound of whirring generators, sirens and pumps emptying water from flooded houses.
Hundreds of thousands of people in New Jersey could be without electricity, water supplies or gas for days to come, their comfortable towns strewn with felled trees and branches blocking main roadways. "We've had major rains before but we've never had flooding like this," said Ben Cohen, a retired judge who lives in Maplewood. "I can only vouch for the last 38 years but nothing even can come close to this."
Two fools in Whippany:
In the town of Whippany, firefighters trained in swift water rescue pulled two youths out of the raging Whippany River, Deputy Fire Chief Randy Polo said. Dumped from a raft at a man-made waterfall in the river, one teen was clinging to a log and the other to a broken tree limb in the thundering current, Polo said. The rescue took about an hour, he said.
The Delaware River is yet to crest:
The Delaware River at Trenton and New Hope/Lambertville is expected to approach major flood stage Monday morning and then gradually subside – though remain above normal levels – through Tuesday.
Peak water levels in the Raritan River are expected to be reached Monday night at Bound Brook and Raritan, and the same for the tributary Millstone River at Blackwell Mills.
The North Branch of the Rancocas Creek at Pemberton is expected peak at major flood stage early Monday morning and remain high until mid-day on Tuesday.
A full list of road closures is available here.
Another lucky fool in Hoboken:
Hudson County sheriff's officers plucked a 25-year-old Hoboken man from the Hudson River at around 5:30 Sunday morning. At first the man said he had jumped in to save his friend, but then confessed to being a thrill seeker, officials said.
"We have seven confirmed," a spokeswoman told Reuters on Monday.
The bodies of two men were found floating in water on the shoreline of Ocean County on Monday, officials said. Other deaths included a 21-year old woman who drowned when swept away by water and a 39-year old volunteer rescue worker who drowned investigating a submerged vehicle.
A man died in Kearny after walking into a drain:
A memorial was erected at the U.S. Postal facility on 1200 Harrison Ave. in Kearny for Ronald Dawkins, 47, of Orange, who drowned as he tried to walk to safety after his car became stuck in floodwater during Hurricane Irene on Sunday.
Postal workers visited the memorial at the site where Dawkins, a supervisor at the Postal facility, drowned when he fell into 10-12 feet of water in an obscured drainage well next to the facility.
A terrible storm. Rivers should crest no later than tomorrow.
D.C.
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