Secaucus Businesses, Residents Suffer Thousands In Flood Damage

SECAUCUS, NJ — On Tuesday, Patch showed you just how bad the flooding was around Secaucus. And today, Secaucus homeowners and business owners have begun the painful process of drying out their homes and assessing the damage.

Some homes in town were unaffected. But for others, Tuesday's freak flash flooding was nothing short of catastrophic.

"All this stuff has to be thrown away; it's all ruined," said a neighbor, as she helped a homeowner on Centre Avenue at Golden Ave. clean out her garage. The homeowner only wanted her first name, Kelly, to be used. ("Everyone knows who I am; we've been here forever.") She showed Patch the water line where about two feet of water flooded her garage. Her car, parked in the driveway, filled with water, she said. She doesn't know if it's operable.

"We have to throw everything in the garage away. And my downstairs flooded, too. It was sewer water —nasty," she said.

Dr. Randi Freed, who owns Freed Vision Center in the center of town, estimates she now has $10,000 to $20,000 worth of damage after water seeped into her office yesterday.

"The water was up to here," she said, pointing about two inches off the ground. "My carpets all have to be replaced and they told me I have flood water behind my walls, so I have to rip the walls out. I was told it could be $20,000 worth of damage and I want to know who's going to pay for it?"

As that top photo shows, the center of Secaucus was under about three feet of water at midday on Tuesday. Freed, whose father, Nathan Freed, started the optometry business decades ago, said she's never seen Plaza Center or the parking lot in front of her office flood like this.

"We've been in business here for 65 years and this is the first time something like this has ever happened," she said. "I called the mayor's office and DPW four times yesterday and nobody got back to me. It's because they didn't open the storm drains in the parking lot until it was too late. I have truly never seen it flood like this. And now local businesses are ruined."

"It's never been like this before," agreed Tom Russo, the owner of TR's Barber Shop next door. "The water came under my door. It may have caused some floor damage, but I'm not sure yet. There's a buckle in my floor now. There's just not enough drainage."

The homeowner, Kelly, said something similar about storm drains not being opened in front of her house.

Secaucus Mayor Mike Gonnelli said he's been battling with the state to build an additional storm drain that would go under Rt. 3 and would drain flood waters from the center of town. He also said the center of Secaucus has flooded before, many times in the past.

"I'm talking to the state now about adding another storm pump on Humboldt Street," Gonnelli said. "And trust me, every single storm drain in town was wide open yesterday. We just had six and a half inches of rain come down in two hours and it was a high tide."

Flood water gushed into every single business in Secaucus' main shopping hub, the CVS strip mall in the center of town. Some shopkeepers showed Patch photos of flooding inside their stores, but asked that the photos not be published for fear of hurting their business. "I'm not allowed to talk to the media," said the manager of the CVS. "But photos online show what it was like." The CVS has massive fans inside today, drying out the wet carpet that still makes a "squish" sound when you walk on it.

"'Flood' is not the word," said an employee at Georgie's Yogurt and Waffle Cafe. "The CVS parking lot was a sea of water. Things were just floating across the parking lot."

The owner of Georgie's said he was not angry at the town.

"It's Mother Nature," said owner George Gutierrez. "About two inches of water came in the store. We got mops and pushed it back out. Who am I going to get mad at?"

Related: Dramatic Photos Of Secaucus Flooding Tuesday

Photo credit: Top photo of flooding on Sept. 25, 2018 provided by Secaucus resident Rich Romano. Other photos provided to Patch by local business owners or taken by Carly Baldwin/Secaucus Patch.