Town Flood Control Plans Unveiled Next Month; Mayors to Meet Jan. 26

Residents concerned about flooding in their neighborhoods after Irene showed up at Town Hall this week hoping to hear some proposals from the engineer about flood control proposals.

But engineers for Hatch Mott Macdonald needed more time and will present those plans on Feb. 7.

Meanwhile, the Mayor’s Council on Rahway River Watershed Flood Control will meet next on Jan. 26 at the Rahway Library at 7:30 p.m.

The council grew out of the regional that was held in October at Union College in Cranford.

It began as a joint effort to work toward mitigation of flooding in towns along the Rahway River, which was made worse by  and highlighted by damages sustained in those towns. 

In an email, Rahway Mayor Rick Proctor said "We [the mayors] are leading the effort to find a regional approach to flood control given the damages communities experienced from Hurricane Irene. The City of Rahway faced significant damages and we were close to potentially facing a devastating breach that could have hit our downtown."

That coalition met with the on Dec. 22, and the Corps agreed to include Campbell’s Pond, Diamond Mill Pond and the Orange Reservoir in its plans and conceptual designs for flood damage reduction.

“This was a big step in resolving part of our storm flooding problem at no cost to Millburn,” Mayor Haimoff said recently.

The nine Mayors participating in the Mayors Council include Mayors from Millburn, Cranford, Garwood, Winfield Park, Springfield, Union, West Orange, Kenilworth and Rahway. Other communities are also expected to become involved as projects develop.

The agenda for the next mayors’ council meeting will include development of additional opportunities for acquisition of properties that have experienced repetitive loss from flooding; discussion of a review of the bridges along Rahway River that may affect flood control, a status of the US Army Corp of Engineers alternatives for regional flood control, a model storm water ordinance and a legislative strategy. 

The Mayor's group has recently requested in excess of $20 million to implement flood storage and other infrastructure projects.

Meanwhile, Millurn Committee Member Tom McDermott is working with the town’s engineer and the Joint Meeting of Essex and Union Counties to find solutions, if possible, to the backing up of sewage in areas such as South Mountain that were flooded first with sewage and then the river.

It remains to be seen, however, whether they will be able to afford or even make changes that could make a difference during a catastrophic event like Hurricane Floyd or Irene.

“The normal flow through the system is 80 million gallons but at the peak during Irene, the flow was 220 million gallons,” McDermott said. “The ground was saturated and we had more than nine inches in 24 hours.”

The system is old and repairs will be costly.

“Whatever fixes are made need to be made up and down the river because even if we have improved everything here, if it backs up downstream, it’s going to eventually back up in Millburn,” McDermott said.

Adam Bulger, Springfield editor, contributed to this report.

Related Topics: Irene, intergovernmental meeting, and mayors flood council