"I'm getting so sick of this," he said, smoking a cigarette just a few feet from the waterline, which extended out into Shady Street.
Denman, 27, worried about his 82-year-old father, who refused to leave the house. By noon, his home was no longer accessible except by boat.
"He's stubborn," Denman said of his father. "He doesn't care…he's got his power, his TV, his radio, and his dog, so he's good. But if it keeps getting worse…if I have to, I'll go through there and I'll pull him out."
As two other residents in waders loaded up gasoline onto a small skiff with an outboard motor, Denman echoed the statements that many of the shocked residents of Pequannock had uttered all day—first, that he couldn't believe it was happening for the second year in a row, and second, that he was tired of it.
Kerry Heck, a 54-year-old chemist who lives at the intersection of Shady andFairview, was marking the waterline with a stick stuck into the sodden ground; in 15 minutes, the line was a foot closer to his house.
Heck had moved into the neighborhood in 1984 ironically, and was cutting wood in order to board up his basement windows in the hopes of keeping the water to a "trickle."
The Fire Department had come knocking at 4:45 a.m., but Heck said he didn't plan to leave unless his basement had serious flooding.
Something is different from the '90s, he said—for 15 years after the '84 flood, he didn't even have a sump pump. Now, he's getting flooded every year.
Why?
"It's those freaking gates," he said, referencing the now infamous dam built on the Pompton Falls by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
A similar scene was found in the Village Area off of Jackson Avenue, which went for years without seeing serious flooding before storms inundated it in 2010 and now, in 2011.
PV Park, Woodland Lake, and the lake by McDonald's Beach had all merged into one huge mass, and water spilled into the streets from more than one direction; the situation was quickly worsening.
Rich Michaels, 51, stood on the corner of Village Road and Voorhis Place with Abby, his 14-month-old cocker spaniel, and watched the water creep ever closer to his house.
Michaels has been in the house for the past 24 years, and voiced his frustration at the inaction on the part of public officials when it comes to the floods.
"Every year it gets worse, and they do nothing about it," he said. "They come knocking on the doors to get elected, the councilmen, and after all the promises, this is what we get."
Water touched his house for the first time in 2010, and he said that if the water reached 1984 levels he might get a foot's worth in the house. He's still not leaving though, and said that it's not this flood that worries him— it's how much worse things will get in the future.
"What's it going to do next time? Is it going to take somebody dying down here for them to fix something?" he asked.
Michaels said that although his house is assessed at $422,000, he could never sell it for that much anymore.
"We're trapped," he said. "I can't sell this house. Who am I going to stick it with?"
Michaels said that maintaining the river might go a long way in controlling the flooding and that he'd like to see the river dredged behind the A&P on Route 23.
He admitted that he's having second thoughts about living in Pequannock, and that he wished he'd looked around more when he moved in 24 years ago.
Shortly afterward, swarms of news camera crews who'd been chasing the Pompton's spreading waters descended upon the small intersection, talking with residents and awaiting the arrival of Governor Christie, who spoke briefly at the site around 2 p.m.
Awaiting the governor were Pequannock Mayor Rich Phelan, Councilman Ed Engelbart, and Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Bobbi Jo Murphy, who said that in the end, Pequannock got crushed under 3.6 inches of rain.
Murphy said that both the township and the state were far more prepared for this storm, though a state of emergency was declared much earlier than it was in 2010, which allowed for the National Guard to offer its assistance by noon on Friday in the form of three "deuce and a half" trucks, 2 and a half ton monsters that can traverse nearly any flooded roadway.
Murphy said that this helped evacuate people who had ignored initial warnings, but then decided that sticking around in the flood zone might be a bad idea after all.
Roughly 1,200 residents were advised to evacuate, and a shelter was set up atPequannock Township High School.
The Fire Department said that about 300 people actually listened and left when the firemen appeared at their front doors telling them the water was coming, but Murphy said that in all reality, officials have no idea how many people like Denman's father are still in their homes.
She commended the state and local OEM, saying that they were "right on it" this year.
"We were ready for this," she said. "Last year it took us by surprise because nobody predicted it….but there was a lot of preparation (this year)."
Meanwhile, Mayor Phelan has been undergoing something of a trial by fire—in office for just over two months, he's already got his first disaster to take care of.
The hardest part, he said, will be the cleanup after everything is over.
"We can get people out of their houses, and we can get people into safe places, but it's the aftermath that's really heartbreaking," he said.
Phelan said that today, Christie had mentioned plans to begin putting money toward dredging the rivers, and he feels that the governor "truly wants to do something."
"I think he's sincere," he said.
The mayor isn't sure what the solution is, but said the dredging might help.
He was hesitant to blame the Pompton Lakes Dam though, and said that the flooding was here before the dam was put in place.
"Is the dam part of the problem? Possibly. I'm not an engineer by trade, but it's easy to point fingers at that particular dam," he said.
Cecelia Paul, 47, feels differently.
She's lived in Pequannock her whole life, and moved to Jackson Avenue about 11 years ago.
Last year, her finished basement was completely destroyed by four feet of water, and her house, which is slightly elevated, was surrounded by a nearby stream.
Her husband just finished completely renovating the basement in September. On Friday afternoon, she hoped that as long as her sump pump kept working, she wouldn't have a repeat of 2010.
"I think it's them messing with the gates," she said when asked what she thought was causing the troubles. "I'm very frustrated by that, and I really, truly believe that a lot of this could be avoidable."
When her son graduates from PTHS, Paul said that she's planning on moving.
"I would like to stay in the general vicinity, but just not flood," she said.
How many residents of the township are thinking the same thing remains to be seen.
E-mail: janoski@northjersey.com
http://www.northjersey.com/news/117915274_Residents_sick__tired_of_flooding_.html?c=y&page=1
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