Townships swamped by flood emergency reports
Some officials, residents rate storm as one of the worst they've ever seen
BY CHRIS GAETANO and JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writers

Route 1 was closed off between Promenade Boulevard and Ridge Road due to torrential wind and rain.

Homes were evacuated and shelters were set up. Roadways were closed and drivers were rescued. All the while, wind and rain continued to pound the area, the flood waters growing higher with each passing minute.

When the worst was over, at least 18 roads in South Brunswick and another nine in North Brunswick had been disrupted, and dozens of people needed to be evacuated from their homes.

According to Jim Ryan, public information officer for the South Brunswick Police Department, a 1.5-mile stretch of Route 1 between Promenade Boulevard and Ridge Road buckled under the pressure of rushing water. A host of other local pathways such as New Road and Deans Lane were also closed off due to flooding.

Ryan said there was also significant flooding in the township's many housing developments, such as Brunswick Acres, Timber Ponds and Oakdale Mobile Home Park, Route 1, where residents made up the bulk of the evacuees in the township. Six were lodged at an emergency shelter set up at the senior center, with all the evacuations requiring more than 40 firefighters from the Kingston, Monmouth Junction and Kendall Park fire companies. Ryan said that the number of roadways closed off made navigating and directing traffic difficult.

PHOTOS BY ERIC SUCAR staff A fire hydrant is flooded over by a stream off Route 1 in South Brunswick. Torrential wind and rain made nearly 20 township roads hazardous to drive through.

Ron Schmalz, public affairs coordinator for South Brunswick, said that police, fire, EMT and public works employees were put on standby as soon as word of the storm began to circulate. Meanwhile, Doug Wolf, emergency management director for the township, set up a command center at 4 p.m. on Sunday to better coordinate the storm-fighting efforts.

"Everything that could have been done prestorm was done," said Schmalz. "[The township] put additional people on standby in case we needed them, and we did."

Emergency workers were needed for a variety of purposes in South Brunswick. The Department of Public Works rescued 50 dogs trapped in flood waters at a kennel. A 75-year-old Somerset man was rescued after he drove under a train bridge on Deans Lane and water started to fill his vehicle. Brian Keith, a public works employee, had the man climb out of his car window and jump onto Keith's back. Keith then walked the 25 feet to safety.

Ridge Road was part of a detour that took drivers around the flooded section of Route 1 in South Brunswick on Monday.

According to police, at least 36 South Brunswick residents reported flooding in their homes. Fire officials helped residents turn off their utilities to avoid accidents.

"It's one of the worst I've seen so far," said Steve Chan, of Dayton. "My house got flooded on Sunday in the basement. It wasn't too high because we caught it in time. My neighbor came over and said, 'Watch out for the water level,' and I went downstairs and checked, and sure enough, it had started seeping through the window. At least it's stopped."

Other residents said that while the weather was indeed terrible, it wasn't much different from things they'd seen before.

"Wet, damp and cold - what you would expect probably in March or something. But I come from New England, so I'm used to nor'easters. It's pretty typical of the weather I grew up with, but it was severe weather and it was dangerous, and you can't take it lightly," said John Netsel, of South Brunswick.

In North Brunswick, Fillmore Road, Tulip Drive, Evelyn Avenue, Axel Avenue, Masoma Road, portions of Oak Road, the Jersey Avenue and Route 1 ramp, the intersection of Jersey Avenue and Huron Road, and the intersection of Route 27 and Thomas Avenue were all closed through Monday morning.

"It was very serious," said Glenn Sandor, the director of the North Brunswick Department of Public Works. "We had a lot of residents affected either by stormwater issues or by a combination of stormwater and sewer issues in their basements. There were a lot of road closures. This is probably the worst [rainstorm] we've seen in a long, long time."

The Office of Emergency Management maintained control of the situation from 11:07 a.m. Sunday, going into effect when an incident impacts the town beyond its normal capabilities, according to OEM Public Information Officer Janice Larkin.

Eighteen to 20 employees of the Department of Public Works were out from Sunday morning to Monday morning, and then Monday until around 8 p.m., handling traffic control, pumping out retention ponds at the senior housing building on Hermann Road with portable pumps, opening up the flood gates at Boyd Ponds, preventing overflow of retention discharges, and keeping the catch basins clear on the roadways.

They also responded to about 80 residential calls about basement flooding, ranging from a couple of inches to a couple of feet, according to Sandor. The fire department responded to a similar number of calls, also going with the police department to make sure residential electricity and gas were turned off in high-risk situations.

There were no power outages as a result of the storm, according to Larkin, but there was one house that sustained structural damage. The residents were taken to a county shelter temporarily, according to North Brunswick Mayor Francis "Mac" Womack.

On Monday morning, the mayor called an emergency meeting to make a priority checklist of how to best ensure the safety of residents. For example, phone calls were made to Meals on Wheels recipients and pumps were shared between residents. Larkin, who is also the mayoral assistant, headed a makeshift "help desk" to direct concerned citizens to the appropriate resources.

"It was very much a community kind of effort, with people helping out neighbors to the fullest extent possible," Womack said.

The emergency was handled in North Brunswick as a collaborative effort between the DPW, the Sewer Department, the Office of Emergency Management, the Parks Division, the three volunteer fire departments, the first aid squad and the township, county and sate police departments. Within the municipality, the efforts were aided by the new radio system recently installed by the police department.

"All the calls received by the police department were on the new DPW channel. We were able to connect directly our office and the police dispatchers on the same channel. It worked out really well. I'm very pleased with it," Sandor said.

As of Tuesday, the only major problem left in North Brunswick was basement flooding. Residents were advised to continue conserving water because the township water plant was flooded out. At press time, North Brunswick was still using water from South Brunswick and Franklin. Any further calls regarding basement flooding or the scheduling of pickup of discarded damaged goods can be directed to the DPW at (732) 297-1134.