Hurricane Irene: The Flooding (Part 2)

Posted: Sunday September 4, 2011

The days following Hurricane Irene, major to historic flooding drowned low lying towns across Northern New Jersey, causing wide spread devastation. Downed trees crippled power lines, leaving many in the dark for days on end. Without electricity, residents located in floodplains were unable to run sub pumps and were forced to rely on generators for power. Sewer and water lines became overloaded, resulting in water spewing out from manholes and flooding streets which are normally immune to seeing high waters.

Emergency response officials patrolled the streets with boats and wave runners, evacuating people trapped in buildings and houses. With major highways flooded out, thousands of vehicles remained trapped, resulting in local streets becoming gridlocked with an overflow of cars being diverted off from the main thruways. In later hours the United States Army was called in, to assist with rescue efforts. The following pictures were taken on Monday, August 29th 2011 and show the flooding which occurred around Pompton Lakes and Riverdale New Jersey.

A dead end road submerged in water.

The bubbling seen in the center of the image is from water pushing up through a manhole cover.

Various debris pushed up against a fence and automobile.

Flooded Reflections

In the distance PSEG crews can be seen working on trying to restore power.

Another manhole cover leaking water onto a residential street flooding out the surrounding houses.

A boat would be the vehicle of choice here.

A waterlogged sidewalk.

An emergency response official can be seen riding a jet ski in the distance. The most swollen streets were flooded with four or more feet of water.

Nature pushing through.

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