New Jersey towns and residents pick up the pieces after Ida – NorthJersey.com

After the rainfall ceased, tornadoes twirled themselves out and the flash flooding abated, New Jersey communities on Friday turned to sorting through the rubble and destruction caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, which killed at least 25 people, with at least six people reported missing in Passaic, Somerset and Essex counties. 

Families mourned, searched for loved ones lost in the storm. Others surveyed their homes, took photos for insurance claims, pumped water from their basements. More cleared fallen trees and other debris, fixed leaks, remediated mold. They were somewhat more fortunate than those who were evacuated and still can’t return for some time.

Rescue crews fanned out to tow away stranded cars submerged by rivers that overflowed into the streets. Utility companies worked to turn the power back on. 

Across New Jersey, about 12,000 customers were still without service Friday, said Board of Public Utilities President Joseph Fiordaliso. In South Jersey, crews had to wait to make repairs because of the wind. 

“You don’t want to send anyone up in a bucket truck when you have 50-, 60-mile-per-hour winds going through,” Fiordaliso said. 

Workers were assessing damages to the roads in at least 20 locations, finding sinkholes, pavement washed away, buckled roadway, all now visible that the water has receded, New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti said Friday morning. 

Live updates:What to know Friday: Ida death toll rises to 25

As towns take stock of the damage, here’s what local officials and residents say Ida left behind, and what’s left to be done to pick up the pieces.

Allendale

The swimming area of the borough’s seven-acre recreational Crestwood Lake is closed after sustaining erosion to the main beach where it meets the concrete walkway behind the diving boards, according to Police Chief George Scherb. The rest of the park remains open for picnics and outdoor activities, Scherb said.

As a result, the Holiday Observers’ traditional summer-end water festival scheduled for Saturday at Crestwood was canceled.

“We can’t reschedule, as they begin draining the lake after Labor Day,” said Scott Miller, member of the mens’ social club that puts on seasonal holiday celebrations for its residents. The Labor Day weekend traditionally includes relays, sand-castle building, cannon ball contests, and other family games.

West Crescent Avenue is open between Brookside and Park Avenues after sustaining damage to a sidewalk from the nearby Ramsey Brook.   

Climate change:Ida’s watery wrath no longer aberration for Northeast

Englewood

First responders rescued 40 people from the water in Englewood, but haven’t discovered anyone who died or suffered significant injuries in a city that saw serious damage and flooding, Mayor Michael Wildes said. 

The city worked with Bergen Family Center and the Community Chest to connect residents with the Red Cross to be relocated and removed from dangerous or unhygienic conditions. Volunteers are delivering food to those in need. 

Englewood’s emergency call volume is returning to normal after operators received 150 calls in 24 hours amid the storm, according to the mayor. 

The city closed seven roads and drivers left dozens of cars abandoned on roadways.

Some city property, including the ice rink at Mackay Park, parts of city hall and the reading room at the library faced damage but things are “trending well,” Wildes said. CVS and ShopRite remain closed but some of the smaller shops in the central business district have started to clean up.

“I walked about to get a look at the damage and some have cleaned up but it’s a humbling experience to see this stuff,” Wildes said. “It looked like Venice at night.”

There was infrastructure damage as well, where a portion of sidewalk was “sheered off” near Brookside Cemetery, and the East Hudson Bridge collapsed.

“The city engineer is looking at all of these things,” Wildes said. 

Low-lying areas of Englewood Health’s campus flooded, including the boiler room, and hospital officials are still reviewing the damage and making repairs. The hospital remained fully operational through the storm. 

Englewood public schools remained closed Friday due to flood damage, according to the schools’ website, with updates for reopening to come next week.

Garfield

In Garfield, there was some damage along River Road on Friday but the water has been receding, said Mayor Richard Rigoglioso.

The public works building took on more than 3 feet of water during the heavy rains and while most of the vehicles were safely moved, a few were lost along with many tools, Rigoglioso said. He also said that the building is “structurally not that sound.”

The area around Monroe Street to Passaic Street was still closed, he said.

Hackensack

Hackensack had no injuries or fatalities but significant flooding in the usual areas of town, Mayor John Labrosse Jr. said.

Areas near Railroad Avenue were inundated and some people had to be evacuated from Madison Street to the civic center where they either found family to stay with or were connected with the Red Cross, Labrosse said.

There were no calls about loss of power but nearly everyone in town had at least some water in their basement, the mayor said.

“I’ve lived in my house for 42 years and this is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” he said. “It wasn’t so much the tide as it was just the amount of rainfall. We recorded about 8 inches of rain.”

He noted that there are more reports of towns and areas that don’t normally flood having problems. Meanwhile the Cold Brook near Madison Street, normally a foot deep, “looked like raging rapids” after the downpour.

Little Falls

The morning after Ida swept several of their neighbors’ cars into a nearby stream, Ron Mullen and his wife Stella Savino of Little Falls were feeling relatively lucky.

Both of their own cars’ interiors were wet and muddy where storm water had surged through and his wife’s car, a 2019 VW wagon, wouldn’t start.

But the engine on his 2015 Honda Civic sputtered to life. They would have at least one set of wheels to get Savino to her job as a nurse manager at St. Barnabas Health and get groceries and supplies.  

By Friday morning, Mullen’s car didn’t start either. Then the phone calls and the “mental turmoil” began, he said. Neither his mechanic nor the insurance adjuster from Geico could look at the car until next Thursday, and Mullen fears both cars will be considered a “total loss.”  

“My understanding is that once water gets above a certain level it affects the electrical system, and insurance companies are worried that if they try to fix it and something goes wrong they will face lawsuits,” he said.  

Trying to rent a car was also fruitless. Mullen could only find one company with availability, a half hour away in Hoboken, and not until next week. Even then, the price of upwards of $100 a day was prohibitive.   

Ride-share services like Uber, which use “congestion pricing” during times of high demand, are also pricey, he said.  

Mullen fears that buying a car will also be difficult. “It’s the toughest car market in history,” he said. “Even used cars are up as much as 50%.” 

He is now “dealing with the bureaucracy,” making calls to his Congresswoman, Mikie Sherrill, Gov. Phil Murphy’s office and the state office of emergency management to find out if he and his wife qualify for FEMA funds.  

Meanwhile, he does feel luckier than some of his neighbors, including those in a group of townhouses in the Inwood complex that were completely flooded. Many have their possessions out on the street.  

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Lodi

In Lodi, Mayor Scott Luna said that he hadn’t seen flooding so bad since at least Hurricane Floyd.

“We were just devastated,” he said. “Parts of town that never flood were flooded. It was just everywhere.”

The borough’s fire department, police and department of public works, working in conjunction with the county, state and National Guard, relocated people who had been stranded in Aldi and ShopRite, as well as drivers who tried to beat the odds and drive in flooded areas.

People living around Richmond Street had 6 to 7 feet of water in their basements while parts of town, including Luna’s own home, saw 18 inches of flooding from the heavy rains.

The Saddle River crested twice, first early Thursday morning and again later in the day, Luna said.

“There were floods on Main Street, you couldn’t even see the Passaic Street bridge,” Luna said “Paterson Avenue looked like a river.”

While the waters are starting to recede, Luna is looking ahead: Turf fields in Kennedy Park and the others will need to be inspected before they can reopen. Officials continue to encourage people to avoid driving near flooded areas.

Montclair

Four Montclair public schools suffered flood damage: Bradford, Edgemont, Hillside and Montclair High School, along with the Developmental Learning Center, Superintendent Jonathan Ponds told parents in an email Wednesday evening.

Montclair schools are still on summer break and are not scheduled to reopen until after Labor Day and the Jewish holiday.

“I am confident that our Buildings and Grounds Department will remediate damages, and we will work relentlessly to open for in-person instruction on September 9,” Ponds wrote in the email.

The Bradford School, located on Mt. Hebron Road, suffered flooding in the boiler room and damage to an electrical panel. The water has been pumped out and electricians are assessing the damage, said Ponds. 

Midland Park

Police Chief Michael Powderley isn’t aware of any residents facing storm-related injuries. 

“Several garages were damaged, fences, wires down and such,” Powderley said. “There were multiple calls for flooded basements and we had closed off several roadways due to severe flooding at the height of the storm, but to my knowledge they have all been reopened.”

Falling trees caused “light structural damage” to a Midland Park home, he said

Oakland

The Ramapo River caused flooding to about four homes on Glen Gray Road and Roosevelt Boulevard, Borough Administrator Richard Kunze said Friday.

Five homes on Lakeshore Boulevard flooded when Crystal Lake overflowed and more houses were affected by the volume of runoff from other drainage infrastructure, Kunze said.

Paterson

Several classrooms in the Paterson public schools have been impacted by water, said spokesperson Paul Brubaker. Crews are working around the clock to bring them back in service, he said.

District officials were monitoring the cresting of the Passaic River on Friday for further possible impact on the district’s buildings, and will continue to provide updates on recovery operations.

The Paterson schools are still scheduled to reopen on Sept 8.

Ridgewood

Two athletic fields at Ridgewood High school will remain closed for several weeks because of significant damage sustained from the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook that flows through its northwest corner, said Superintendent Thomas Gorman.

The district will make alternative arrangements for fall sports teams until the fields are open for use.

Rochelle Park 

About a third of the homes in Rochelle Park sit in the flood plain of the Saddle River and Sprout Brook, but normally the overflow goes no farther than the Saddle River County Park. During Ida, however, “there was so much rain coming out of the sky at one time” that hundreds of homes were flooded, said Mayor Gail Artola — including her own. 

Homes didn’t flood until about midnight, when the river overflowed its banks. “A lot of people thought they had dodged a bullet,” Artola said.  

Until then, the Rochelle Park police had been busy rescuing drivers stuck in their cars on Route 17, using the two boats owned by the township.  

Most of those who needed to be evacuated from their homes called 911 when they woke up in the morning, came downstairs and saw their first floor under water. Neighboring towns assisted in the evacuations, bringing their own boats, including Ramsey, Glen Rock, Garfield and Maywood.  

Evacuees, including one person with a broken leg, were brought to the Midland school, where they stayed until they could be taken to relatives or a hotel. 

Artolo said the floodwaters left a layer of brown dirt in her garage. “You don’t know what’s in that water,” she said. “It doesn’t smell pleasant. It’s important to clean as much as you can and also throw out as much as you can.”  

Unfortunately, there are scammers out. On Friday morning, Artola said, someone showed her a text she’d received offering help with construction and insurance. The police determined it was a scam 

“It can be very deceiving, even for someone not desperate for help,” she said. Anyone who is unsure about an offer should call the non-emergency police number, she said.  

Still, Artola has been touched by the positive response from other towns and from within. With school due to start next week, parents from dry homes have begun donating school supplies and clothing to families hurt by the flood, so those children are ready for the first day of school, too. 

And on Friday, Artola said, Gov. Phil Murphy reached out to her to talk about the residents’ hardship. 

The town’s annual flood awareness program meeting, long-scheduled for Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. at town hall, will instead be an opportunity for residents to find out how to get assistance. 

Saddle Brook

Seven Saddle Brook families that got hit the hardest along Saddle River Road and Rochelle Park were evacuated to local senior center by boat, according to Mayor Bob White. They have since been able to get back into their houses.

The neighborhood notoriously gets hit hard because of the nearby creek and their proximity to the Saddle River, which rose to 12.8 feet, White said.

“At one point around 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday we received about 4 inches of rain in an hour period,” he said.

The pipes couldn’t handle the volume, White said.

Other areas White wasn’t expecting to flood did, like Jamros Terrace.

Saddle Brook is offering to help pump water out of residents’ homes if they call town hall or the emergency hotline.

Teaneck

Holy Name Hospital’s emergency room flooded, the worst occurring between 11 p.m. on Wednesday through 11 a.m. on Thursday, said spokesperson Jeanette Hoffman.

During those hours, the hospital was on divert status, turning away incoming patients to other hospitals. As of Thursday afternoon, the hospital was cleaned, water pumped out and “fully functional” and open to patients, she said. 

Tenafly 

The storm hit the borough hard, completely destroying a culvert and stream on Bliss Avenue, said Mayor Mark Zinna. While all homes on Bliss Avenue are accessible, the street will not be a through street for several months as the bridge is rebuilt. Several roads around town also buckled due to the stormwater, said Zinna.

“The water poured into people’s basements and we have hundreds of homes that have been flooded out,” said Zinna. “They’re in the process of taking out all of their furniture and belongings. It’s unfortunate to see.”

About 50 to 60 cars around town were destroyed. In one instance, firefighters attempted to rescue a car, only to get caught in the flood and need rescuing themselves.

“One thing we are thankful for is that the injuries to people are very minor,” Zinna said. 

Construction crews were already starting work Friday to repair York Place, one of the damaged roads.

“Tenafly residents are pretty resilient, generous and are helping each other out,” said Zinna. “We’re going to do everything we can to help people.”

Westwood

Frank Mantz and his family didn’t see a hint of a cloud when they were on vacation at the shore. 

But as Mantz received repeated alerts on his phone Wednesday night about flooding back home in Westwood, he asked his in-laws to check out on his Harding Avenue house.

Although everything seemed okay around 10:30 p.m., Mantz’s heart sunk when he checked a Ring doorbell camera at 3 a.m. to see his garbage cans slowly float down an extremely flooded street. There was about four feet of water flooding the entire Harding Avenue area.

“At that point, I knew things were really bad,” said Mantz.

By the time Mantz returned home on Thursday, water levels on the street had receded, but the damage to his house was already done.

“We had 4 feet of water standing in our basement,” said Mantz. “Our sump pumps weren’t able to keep up.”

All the family’s mechanical equipment, such as air conditioners, washer and dryer, were a complete loss. Mantz streams video games online from the basement as a side hobby and his entire setup was also destroyed, including three monitors, his PC and other streaming equipment.

Harding Avenue is adjacent to the Pascack Brook, which is fed directly by the Woodcliff Lake Reservoir, making it more prone to flooding.  Mantz said borough officials and Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi had worked with Suez on managing the water levels at the reservoir before the storm to give them “a fighting chance in this neighborhood,” but the storm was just too intense.

“The amount of rain inundated it and there was nothing they could do,” said Mantz. “It’s an unfortunate situation but the mayor and his team have been stellar at what they do.”

Mantz’s neighbors on Harding Avenue did not fare much better. His neighbor across the street had a “waterfall” entering his home from a side door, the basement a complete loss after six feet of water entered and damaged his home gym.

“We’re just working now to remediate the area and put everything back together,” said Mantz. “We hope to get back to normal life soon.”

Woodland Park

Woodland Park schools will not open on Sept. 7 as scheduled. They have not announced a reopening date, said Superintendent Michele Pillari, in a letter to parents on Thursday. 

The Beatrice Gilmore Elementary and Memorial Middle School in Woodland Park also suffered some flooding, said the township’s spokesperson. School 1 and Charles Olbon School were not affected. Memorial Middle school appears to be most affected by floodwater in the gym, hallways and some classrooms, which came through despite flood guards on all doors.

Ashley Balcerzak is a reporter covering affordable housing and its intersection of how we live in New Jersey. For unlimited access to her work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: balcerzaka@northjersey.com 

Twitter: @abalcerzak