Pequannock hit with record flooding as Pompton rises to unprecedentedheights

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2011

BY STEVE JANOSKI
STAFF WRITER
SUBURBAN TRENDS

Some areas of the East Coast managed to slip Hurricane Irene's knockout blows, but Pequannock, as always, took it right on the chin, with 9 inches of rain overwhelming every brook and river in the township and causing a degree of flooding that hasn't been seen since 1903.

At Town Hall on Monday, exhausted Pequannockofficials were unable to tell what day it was because they'd been awake so long while firefighters mounted huge deuce-and-a-half trucks and took to the waters to take people and animals out of homes.

All the while, residents and emergency personnel alike were awed at the unprecedented amount of damage that had been done to a town that had been transformed into a small island and left to fend for itself.

Preparations had been taken and flood plans were implemented. Governor Christie ordered the Pompton Lake Dam opened up on Saturday to drain the lake of about 3 feet of water, and toldPequannock Mayor Rich Phelan that he would be "taking a leap of faith" with local mayors to try to avert a 100-year flood.

In the end, after Hurricane Irene rumbled through the area this weekend and dropped over 9 inches of rain in the course of less than 24 hours, public officials would realize that Pompton Lake could have been drained down to the bed and it still wouldn't have mattered.

By the time the Pompton River was done with its tantrum at about 5 a.m. Sunday, it had crested at 25.24 feet, shattering the records for flooding from the past century and finally eclipsing the legendary 1984 flood by almost a foot.

A tired Phelan was shocked by the devastation that the waters brought.

"I couldn't believe how bad it was," he said on Monday afternoon. "The benchmark flood was 1984, everybody has always talked about the 1984 flood, that this was the big one — and this was beyond where we were at in 1984."

Phelan had promised during last year's election campaign to raise hackles about Pequannock's flooding problems with the state, but even he had to admit that this year's event, which was the seventh overall and the fifth major flood in the past two years, was unavoidable.

"We could probably stop the 10-year-flood," Phelan said. "But you can't stop the 100-year floods. It's impossible…you will never stop the 100-year flood unless you build 40-foot concrete walls out there…this is the one you have to grin and bear."

Township Manager Dave Hollberg had been awake for days as well, and met with Suburban Trends in his office on Monday during a break in the maelstrom of activity that characterized Pequannock's Office of Emergency Management command center, which was situated in a small conference room at Town Hall.

Hollberg said that with rain predictions ranging from 6 to 10 inches, it was difficult to know what to prepare for, but with the reservoirs to the north of the township already nearly full, he knew it would be only a matter of time before the waters of the Pequannock, Pompton, and Wanaque rivers combined to make Pequannock a reservoir itself.

Evacuations by way of reverse-911 calls began in the lowest-lying areas — neighborhoods by Harrison Road and businesses along Route 23 — late Saturday night and into early Sunday as the storm commenced, but things remained calm, the manager said.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, however, troubles began to mount. Water began coursing over the spillway at the Pompton Lake Dam, Hollberg said, and within a few hours, 6,600 cubic feet of water per second was charging through and heading downstream.

At 3 a.m., the water levels started rising; between 4 and 5 a.m., the river jumped up 2 feet. By 6 a.m., it had risen another 2 feet, and evacuations began on Oakwood and Pequannock avenues. The river had reached 16.5 feet — flood stage.

The Village was evacuated in preparation, and to nearly everyone's shock, Greenview Park and West Parkway began to flood for the first time in memory.

Some flooded-out residents on the west side of town blamed the new turf field construction atPequannock Township High School, although Hollberg said it's a bit more likely that it was rain combined with water blitzing down off the mountains that inundated the Beaver Brook by the Lincoln Park Airport and caused the water to back up into the streets.

'No place to go'

"When you get that much rain, it rushes down the mountain, and then it hits this flat spot and it's got no place to go," Hollberg said.

On Sunday morning, standing puddles of nearly a foot of water had made West Parkway impassable, and Jacksonville Road soon followed.

At the same time, Route 23 closed; Hollberg said that within an hour of the jughandle closing, the rest of Route 23 was shut off and only local traffic has been allowed in since.

The Newark-Pompton Turnpike would be shut down late Sunday afternoon as waters began to lap over the thoroughfare at several points and the Pompton swelled up to meet the bridge at the south end of town running into Wayne.

Calls rolled in constantly Sunday for evacuations, and they got more numerous and more panicked as the Pompton River began to seep under front doors in the darkness as it crested late Sunday night into Monday morning.

About two dozen calls came in after 8:30 on Sunday night, but Hollberg said that evacuations became exponentially more dangerous in the dark, and with all the notice given to residents to evacuate, the township refused to put its emergency workers at risk by performing midnight runs.

"I think that people who haven't been flooded before because it didn't quite make it into their homes didn't heed the (evacuation) warning as closely," Hollberg said.

At dawn on Monday, the rescues resumed, and altogether about 600 homes were ordered evacuated. How many individuals were rescued is still unknown.

The damage was savage. Homes in the Village Area off Jackson Avenue, which floods only during the worst storms, had 4 to 6 feet of water their first levels; their front doors showed dirty high water marks at stomach height on Monday afternoon.

Cars and trucks left overnight featured fogging windows and radiators with sticks and brush jammed into them, and front lawns swayed like seaweed below the waterline as the current ebbed and flowed through the neighborhood.

The south end of town saw similar totals, and even National Guard deuce-and-a-half trucks floundered in the Alexander Avenue area.

'Closed for the season'

PV Park's diving board now rests in the middle of the one giant lake that has absorbed both PV and Woodland Lake, and Hollberg said that the lake is "officially closed for the season."

About 30 residents crowded into the shelter set up at Pequannock Valley Middle School, which functioned throughout the storm. On Monday, however, PV, along with a wide swath of the southern end of town, lost power because a malfunctioning power substation off of Irving Street was surrounded by water, precluding JCP&L from reaching it.

However, the manager said, the township dodged the predicted high winds, and few power outages were reported during the storm.

For once, it will be hard blame the Pompton Lake Dam's floodgates for the township's troubles, even though it has become a favorite target of residents and officials alike since its completion in 2007.

Although Hollberg said that he would have rather had the dam opened and left open in order to avoid the sudden increases in river height that occurred Sunday morning, he said that the overall volume of Pompton Lake is so small that it had "no impact" on the amount of water the township received.

"You get a hurricane that produced 9 inches of rain in 18 hours, we can be ready to react to the effects of the storm, but I don't think there's anything that can be done…that much rain is gonna cause flooding," he said.

Phelan said that he thought the draining of the lake "couldn't have hurt," and that more importantly, it will open the door for future draining ahead of smaller storms.

Had Irene dropped 4 inches of rain instead of nearly 10, the draining might have averted the typical flooding that occurs, he said.

"We got Christie to actually do something, so we can probably go back the next time we know there's going to be a heavy rainstorm…and say, 'You did it one time, now do it again for us,'" he said. "It was a great thing (Christie) did even though it didn't help, but it may help on our 10-year floods going forward."

In the end, however, no deaths or serious injuries have been reported in the township, and attention will turn to helping the recovery, whenever it begins.

It is still too early for damage estimates, but it does not look promising.

Early reports indicated on Tuesday that part of the highway by Woodland Lake was undermined, and a reopening date is yet unclear.

The Newark-Pompton Turnpike bridge into Wayne was still closed Tuesday, and will be until the bridge can be inspected. Few access routes into the town are open, and police are checking licenses before letting people in.

Phelan said the big concern now will be to organize volunteers and get out and help the residents who are enduring once again.

"We're going to do whatever we can to help them…but it's going to be a huge cleanup," he said.

Email: janoski@northjersey.com


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Pequannock braces for the worst

SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2011  

BY STEVE JANOSKI

STAFF WRITER

When Mayor Rich Phelan took office on the afternoon of Jan. 1, there was no way for him to predict that within eight months, the township would see three major floods, one noticeable earthquake, and possibly a massive hurricane that could lead to even more flooding.

Tall cranes rose up near the Pompton Lake Dam on Friday, Aug. 26, as work to clean and clear the dam progressed ahead of the pending storm.

Now, somehow, what was once the extraordinary is becoming the routine, and Phelan said on Thursday afternoon that he's "seen this movie three times" and he's getting tired of it.

The script could take a dark turn, however, if Hurricane Irene slams into New Jersey at Category 3 strength, and brings the temperamental Pompton River back into the streets of Pequannock.

A native of Bound Brook, Phelan is no stranger to flooding, and he's anticipating that Irene will dwarf 1999's Hurricane Floyd, and be the worst storm to hit the area since 1984...or maybe even further back.

"If we get 11 inches of rain, you're looking at a hundred-year plus flood," he said.

The township will be employing all sorts of measures to keep citizens alert as the storm intensifies, from updating the website to reverse 911 calls to firemen and police knocking on doors, and officials stress that when authorities tell them to leave, that means it's time to go.

"We believe that the waters are going to rise very quickly once the heavy rains start to come," he said. "Some people want to ride these things out, but this could be different; it could be very ugly....we may not be able to get back in later."

Phelan said on Friday afternoon that on Governor Christie's order, the Pompton Lakes Dam was opened at 12 p.m. in order to drain the lake's water level by three feet and provide some storage, an unprecedented move that many municipalities below the dam have been calling for over the last two years.

Christie had a conference call with Phelan and three other area mayors - Katie Cole of Pompton Lakes, Chris Vergano of Wayne, and Mike DeFrancisci of Little Falls - where he said that he would "take a leap of faith" with them and open the gates.

"At least they're trying to do something," Phelan said. "It took us writing letters and going on TV to get him to react, but he did react."

When asked if he thought opening the gates would truly help, Phelan replied that "anything would help at this moment...anything."

1903...or 1821...all over again?

Dave Robinson, the NJ Climatologist at Rutgers University, said that preparing for the worst might not be a bad idea.

"The potential is there for one of the more destructive storms on record for this state - but we're talking about potential," he said.

Although the storm has been vacillating between a Category 2 and Category 3, Robinson said that it's likely that it will be Category 1 by the time it hits New Jersey, although it might be possible for the storm to maintain it's power until it hits the Jersey Shore if it stays over the Atlantic long enough.

Robinson said that gusts may reach the 75 mph range on the ridge tops, but it would be unlikely for hurricane force winds to be sustained in the North Jersey area.

Unfortunately, it's the rains that will bring the troubles, and Robinson said that with the full reservoirs and a foot of rain, it would be possible to conceive of a scenario that mirrors the 1903 floods, which had the wettest storm on record and caused floods two feet above even the 1984 levels.

There are still many scenarios that could occur that end with Pequannock not getting pummeled, but if the storm continues on its course and the eye comes close to the Jersey Shore it would be a climatological anomaly.

If Irene comes ashore and moves inland as a hurricane, it would be just the third time that's happened, Robinson said, with the others occurring in 1821 and 1903.

This storm would mirror 1821 more, he said, because the 1903 storm came inland at Atlantic City and moved westward towards Trenton; the 1821 version "kind of came up the parkway."

"It's rare, but it's happened before," he said.

A new set of hazards

Regardless of what historical storm Irene ends up resembling, local officials are taking no chances.

Township Manager Dave Hollberg said that Irene's winds may lead to more problems than normal because of its potential for knocking down trees and destroying power lines.

"The combination of flooding with the potential for wind damage, power outages, and perhaps live electrical lines in flooded roads can be deadly if people are not paying attention," he said.

The township has been posting a "Weather Advisory Statement" on the Pequannock website, Peqtwp.org, that is being updated every three to six hours.

Evacuations may come early, and Hollberg said that if it looks like flooding is imminent, the town will be moving people out of the way while the roads are still dry.

"Be prepared," he advised residents. "Have a plan, have a kit, pay attention the weather reports, and if advised to evacuate, evacuate - don't wait."

Bobbi Jo Murphy, the Director of the township's Office of Emergency Management, said that the emergency shelter is in place, and will likely be at Pequannock Valley Middle School on the Newark-Pompton Turnpike.

A state of emergency has been declared by Governor Christie, and Murphy said that the First Aid Squad, Department of Public Works, Police Department and fire companies are on standby.

"The good thing is that we've been through so many floods that residents know what to expect, but I think this is going to be a whole new ballgame," she said.

Murphy expects more citizens at the emergency shelters as extended power outages occur, and people who don't normally see water end up flooded.

Greg Renna, chief of the Pequannock First Aid and Rescue Squad, said that this will be an "all hands on deck" situation for his 50 member crew, which will be ready to respond to medical emergencies that occur during the evacuation process.

The FAS will be mobilized from 7 p.m. Friday night to 7 p.m. Tuesday night, he said, but he's hoping that the storm weakening as it comes up the coast.

"A significant amount of rain could be quite devastating to this township...and its residents," he said.

David James, Chief of Engine Co. No. 1, said that the fire company is storing enough food for about four days in order to feed the 56-man crew while they're standing by or responding.

He reiterated the need for residents to leave when they're told, and was greatly concerned about the potential for downed power lines in the water, which could cut evacuation efforts off if severe enough.

"It adds a whole new danger to our job," he said. "We don't want to say no, but at some point during the storm we're going to have to say no; I can't jeopardize my men's safety because people didn't want to listen to the warnings and get out."

The biggest difference between this storm and previous floods, James said, is that this time, Pequannockis on its own.

The chief had conversations with Morris County's fire officials, and they informed him that there will be no mutual aid coming, no cavalry from Whippany or Boonton riding in to ease the burden on the township's weary firemen.

"They're having the same problems this time as we do," he said. "We're like John Wayne this time, we'll do what we have to do."

On top of this, many state resources that were previously available in March will be pushed further south towards the Shore areas in order to help those communities cope.

James is also concerned that if a major evacuation of New York City occurs, people will be coming this way looking for shelter in hotels that also might have to be eventually evacuated, such as the Best Western/Regency House on Route 23 north.

Bill Pereira, head of the Pequannock Department of Public Works, said that the storm drains are all clear, and the DPW is preparing for trees to come down and barricades to be put up.

"The guys have been through this drill before, so we try to move a little bit ahead of things by putting up barricades where we know they're going to be necessary," he said.

The township's wellhouses and sewer pump stations have also been checked and secured, but Periera said that the possibility of them failing due is "remote."

"That type of thing is not very likely unless we get something that's way off the charts...but the pumps do have to keep running throughout the storm, and it's something that we keep an eye on," he said.

Email: janoski@northjersey.com

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Pequannock deals with flooding once again

 BY STEVE JANOSKI

PEQUANNOCK— On Friday afternoon, Adam Denman stood watching the floodwaters rise around his home for the second time in two years on Oakwood Avenue in the southern section of Pequannock, and compared the cutoff neighborhood to the movie "Castaway."

"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.

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