Service To Remember Somerset County Flood Victims

GREEN BROOK, NJ — The Green Brook Flood Control Commission (GBFCC) will hold their Annual Memorial Service on Aug. 5 to remember the six residents who lost their lives Aug. 3, 1973, during the flood event that sent torrents of rain off of the first ridge of the Watchung Mountains, turning the streets of North Plainfield and surrounding towns into streams, as well as the two lives lost during Hurricane Floyd.

The memorial service will be held at 9:30 a.m. at Miller Park, 111 Greenbrook Road, Green Brook. Due to ongoing flood project construction in Middlesex Borough, the ceremony has been moved this year. Miller Park is located behind the Green Brook Municipal Building.

Those who lost their lives 44 years ago include:

• William Clark, 57, Plainfield,
• Stephen Langhorne, 15, North Plainfield,
• Richard Sciaretta, 32, Bernardsville,
• Jerry Spinner, 45, Warren,
• Keith Stewart, 21, Warren,
• Harry Timmens, 30, Plainfield.

The ceremony will also remember Mary Tharp, 85 and her son John Tharp, 58, who lost their lives Sept. 17, 1999, during the Downtown flooding in Bound Brook, caused by Hurricane Floyd.

Officials of the commission, appointed officials, projects participants from the federal, state, county and local government levels and residents are invited.

Former North Plainfield Mayor Frank McArdle and legislative chairman of the commission will lead the ceremony. He will also remember former commission members and elected officials who advocated for the project, including founding chairman Vernon Noble and his wife Shirley of Green Brook, former vice-chairman Marty Matuskiewicz of Middlesex, former vice chairman Larry Newcombe of Scotch Plains, former treasurer Frank Meeks of Plainfield, Middlesex County Freeholder Director David Crabiel, Sen. Frank Lautenberg and Assemblyman and Congressman Bob Franks.

The annual memorial serves as a re-commitment to ensuring continued federal, state, and local funding of the project throughout the entire Green Brook sub-Basin, from Bound Brook to South Plainfield and Scotch Plains to the East and Watchung and Berkeley Heights to the north. In addition to the significant annual state and county investment, the project is scheduled to receive $20 million in federal funding this coming year, which is double the prior year’s allocation.

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers has indicated that they have the capacity of utilizing up to $30 million in funding, if additional funds become available, according to the GBFCC.

The GBFCC serves as the liaison for residents and local government agencies with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the project. The GBFCC has representatives from 12 member municipalities and the counties of Middlesex, Somerset and Union. For more information, visit the Commission’s website at www.gbfcc.org.

(Image via Shutterstock)

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