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Politics & Government

Flood Committee Works To Focus On Solutions, not 'War Stories'

Officials hope to move forward with the next phases of the town's flood control plan.

As Flood Advisory Committee member and longtime Cranford resident, Joe Musillo waited for Thursday night’s meeting to begin, he expressed his increasing frustration with the committee’s progress to execute a five phase plan that would significantly reduce flooding in Cranford and surrounding areas.

“I hope that tonight we can focus more on solutions and less on war stories,” Musillo lamented. “We need to move forward with phase 2B which is supposed to seal off connections to the river so that the water does not back up into the streets. In the last 28 years, I have been trapped in my house 21 times because of street flooding. During Hurricane Irene, I had four feet of water on my first floor. I am currently living on the second floor of my house with no kitchen or furnace. I survive on one meal a day which my neighbors bring to me,” Musillo said.

Fellow committee member Thomas Hannen recently joined Mayor Daniel Aschenbach on a “fact finding tour” of Cranford and surrounding areas to help trace the flooding timeline of Hurricane Irene. Hannen chose to remain optimistic about what the Flood Advisory Committee may accomplish.

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“I am hoping that we can come to a consensus as to what our priorities are for FEMA mitigation and what we should recommend to the Township Committee,” Hannen said.

According to a previous resolution made by the Committee, Phase 2B of the committee’s plan to control future flooding involves a “shovel-ready project” that would provide relief to flood prone areas in the Upper Northeast quadrant of town by connecting all unconnected storm sewers to the Riverside Pumping Station. The construction of the Riverside Pumping Station will be located along the Rahway River in the area of Riverside Drive and Kensington Avenue and has already been approved by the Cranford Township Committee as part of Phase 2A.

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At the start of the meeting, Township Engineer Richard Marsden described why Irene proved to be such a devastating storm despite the fact that although water did overtop the dikes, the dikes suffered no structural damage.

“A 100-year storm event occurs when 8.7 inches of rain falls in a 24-hour time period. Ultimately, we had 8.4 inches of rain in less than 12 hours. That combined with 50-mile-per hour winds forced us to mandate evacuations,” Marsden said. 

Marsden went on to describe how the disaster started. “If you gradually pour water down a children’s slide the water will run, but if you suddenly pour water down a slide, it will rush. The water will get to the bottom faster and at a higher level and density. That’s what happened to us here in Cranford. In addition, the ground was already so saturated that the water had nowhere to absorb. We knew that this was going to be worse than Floyd,” he said.

Leo Coakley, an engineering consultant from Hatch Mott MacDonald is working with the town to help solve flooding issues.

“Every story I hear proves that this storm flooded places that never got flooded before,” Coakley said.

With the help of Leo Coakley and Richard Marsden, the Flood Advisory Committee did reach several resolutions. The first resolution stated that the Flood Advisory Committee restate support for Phase 2B by requesting that Township Committee approve the use of funds to tie the unconnected storm sewers to the Riverside pumping station.

According to Mayor Aschenbach, completing this process would cost about $2 million.

“Phase 2B could be implemented the quickest. No additional permits are needed and the project is 99 percent designed,” Leo Coakley said.

The committee also passed a resolution to us further investigate the potential purchase of a home on Park Drive on the West Balmier side of the river which had been previously been purchased by the county.  If purchased by the township through eminent domain or with FEMA mitigation funds, the property would be used to set up a pumping station.

One resident who attended the meeting raised a particularly troubling issue regarding the township’s infrastructure.

“I live on Walnut Avenue. During Hurricane Irene, we got hit with sewer back up. I think we need to take a closer look at how our sewer system works and what it means for residents like me who were impacted by some of that infrastructure.”

Marsden explained that the areas in Cranford that are most severely affected by this problem are the southwest corner of town and the northeast corner from Orange Avenue to Kensington Avenue.

“Our sewer systems are very old,” Marsden said. “As they age, sections of pipes or manholes can crack and accumulate damage.  During a storm event, there will be an infiltration because as groundwater gets higher, there is more pressure; more water on top puts pressure on the water below which makes it sneak through these pipes quicker. This happens in every storm. Irene was catastrophic because we had at least two feet in the system that needed to find the easiest way out."

“That’s about what I had in my basement,” the resident replied.

Marsden went on to urge residents who are affected by this issue to take certain precautions. “Check in with your plumber and make sure that you have a one way gate valve or something to keep this from happening,” Marsden stated.

Mayor Aschenbach explained that the township is well aware of this problem and continue to work with the Rahway Valley Sewerage Authority to find a solution. The town has used the funding received from the Stimulus Package to deal with some of these issues, even hiring Red Zone Robotics to monitor the sewage system and track down leaks.

The Flood Advisory Committee passed a second resolution that could also be implemented without any further design effort or permit approval.

“Armoring the dikes alongside Riverside Drive would protect the integrity of the dikes in future storms,” Aschenbach explained.

Leo Coakley also emphasized the importance of armoring the dikes. “The dikes are stable but water could easily seep under the dikes, loosen the soil and cause a quick sand effect,” Coakley said. “If that happens, the dikes could fail. The fact that it hasn’t happen yet doesn’t mean it won’t. We’re living on the edge.”    

Several member of the committee presented the option of raising or replacing the dikes instead of armoring them. The mayor noted that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who have been studying flooding issues in Cranford since 2007 have noted that there is an issue with the dikes.

“My fear is that if congress can’t even pass money to fund FEMA, for this year after the disasters that have taken place right now, us waiting for the Army Corps to get enough funding to replace or raise the dikes may mean that our children’s children are the ones that finally fix this,” Thomas Hannen said.

The mayor expressed that while the Army Corps findings may help the town secure funding from FEMA funding or mitigation, it could be at least four years before Cranford could start raising or replacing the dikes and by that time, the government may decide that another town in the country needs the funding more, citing the recent wild fires that have caused devastation out west as an example.

As FEMA proved to be an increasingly important element in this discussion, one resident asked the committee “where is the money coming from?”

The mayor noted that 75 percent of the cost of repairs post-Irene will be covered by FEMA.

“We saved an enormous amount of money because of how our engineering department managed the cleanup,” the mayor stated.  “We also sent a letter to all of the towns that were affected by Irene urging them to write to our governor and our senator urging the state to cover the remaining 25 percent of the cost not covered by FEMA. Congressman Lance has been pushing this. If he is unsuccessful, we could borrow the funds and pay it off over a few years.”

Leo Coakley provided Patch with details concerning the two major studies the Army Corps is conducting including plans for the Lenape Basin located on the border of Kenilworth and Cranford and for the Birchwood Avenue property which has come under controversy since the property was purchased with the intention of constructing 360 residential units of affordable housing. The Army Corps began working with Cranford in early 2007.

“Currently, the Army Corps is in the process of doing a flood mitigation feasibility study of the Rahway River, focusing on the benefits that Cranford and adjacent areas could achieve if specific changes were made,” Coakley explained. “Part of this study includes looking at the Lenape Park detention basin to see if it could be modified. The Army Corps is also studying the Birchwood site to see if it can provide some practical benefits for flood control,” Coakley said. Leo Coakley went on to express that if the construction of affordable housing on Birchwood Avenue cannot be stopped, any plans to use the property to develop a Birchwood-Casino Brook storage basin to control Casino Avenue flooding would have to be abandoned.

Next week, Mayor Aschenbach is planning to meet with New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin to explain why building permits for Birchwood Avenue should not be approved. As the mayor continued to emphasize the importance of the community’s involvement in the fight against the development on Birchwood Avenue, he displayed a photo of a car that was almost totally submerged on Casino Avenue.

“This is a picture from 2008, not Hurricane Irene. You can see that this is what happens even during normal storms. The judge who ruled on in favor of the construction didn’t walk down Casino Avenue. The Governor and the DEP Commission have to understand that the fact that the flooding is so severe in this area could derail the application for building permits,” the Mayor said.

Mayor Aschenbach urged residents and members of the Flood Advisory Committee to write to the governor’s office and the Department of Environmental Protection.

“ is an important part of this plan,” Aschenbach noted. “We have to press upon the state that this is a significant problem. Our now has over 500 signatures. This is a codevelopment of 360 housing units, an 800 car parking garage in a single residential family area that has flooding."

One resident stated that “if we don’t say anything now, and we wait for the building process to begin, then we are at fault.”

Aschenbach noted that the township is exploring multiple strategies to combat this issue. “We are also proceeding on the legal strategy simultaneously, but rather than spending a fortune on legal fees, let’s define this problem so that any reasonable person will say 'This is nuts.' Not doing so will result in a massive overdevelopment in an extremely flood prone area,” the mayor explained.

Overall, the Flood Advisory Committee meeting was marked by the dedication of its members and participating residents, nearly all of whom had a very personal investment in the Committee’s Success.

“My house had to be gutted four feet up on the first floor,” Scott Mease, a former Cranford Commissioner and engineer stated. “We were very lucky, we had forty one friends come and help us clean up during the storm.”

Aschenbach announced that Assemblyman Jon Bramnick will host a panel of experts for victims of Hurricane Irene on Sept. 26 at 5:30 p.m. at the Union County College Theater. Cranford residents are encouraged to attend as important information regarding cleaning, mold and insurance will be given by the panel.  

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