72°
In New Milford, looking toward Oradell (CLIFFVIEW PILOT PHOTO)
UPDATE: Dumont residents are growing angrier over the delays in having power restored, especially after seeing neighboring New Milford back on line earlier today. “Still waiting for power,” Diane Walters wrote. “[W]ould be nice to get home from work today to find it on. I have lost A LOT of food.” READ MORE….
Westwood and Hillsdale got a reprieve Monday,
although the exhausted residents of flood-prone neighborhoods might not have known that United Water’s Woodcliff Lake reservoir actually came within a HALF-INCH of hitting its 95-foot flood mark at 2 a.m. today. They spent just about all of Monday clearing out damaged furniture and appliances that were piled curbside– leaving some neighborhoods looking like Third World countries after nightfall.
Lyndhurst, Lodi, Rutherford, Elmwood Park, among several other Bergen towns are all dealing with widespread flooding.
But the most severe concentration of both flooding and blackouts in the county is in Bergenfield, Dumont and New Milford, where water from the overflowing Oradell Reservoir knocked out PSE&G substations. Hundreds have been evacuated (SEE: Hundreds rescued from New Milford can’t go home yet).
To understand the magnitude of the situation, consider that more than 10,000 customers in just those three towns were without power as of 4 a.m., according to PSE&G figures (that doesn’t include those who had power restored late Monday). The rest of Bergen County: fewer than 50,000.
UPDATE (5:30 p.m.): Bergen County sustained $20 million in flood damage that will be covered by federal disaster funds, county officials said today. “We’re ahead of this. The worst is over,” County Emergency Management Coordinator Dwane Razzetti reassured a countywide conference call of local officials anxious about more Passaic River flooding. Executive Kathleen Donovan also corrected “pure sensationalism” media reports. READ MORE….
Dumont Mayor Matthew P. McHale
Dumont Mayor Matthew McHale has kept residents and business owners updated via his Facebook page. Yesterday, he opened Borough Hall to those who needed to recharge — literally.
The “Dumont Recharging Center” will remain open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. today, tomorrow and Thursday (and longer, if necessary) at Borough Hall, where residents and business owners can charge cell phones, iPods, laptops, and other portable devices.
“Outlets are available in the main corridor, the Executive Conference Room, and Council Chambers,” McHale said. “If arriving prior to 4:30 p.m., please check in with the Borough Clerk’s office; if after 4:30 p.m. check in with the Dumont Police Department front desk located on the ground floor.”
It was a small measure of solace, given how upset he, borough residents and business owners are with PSE&G. Meanwhile, McHale — who has deemed the utility’s response “unacceptable” — has advised residents to stay with family. Police are out and about, protecting the community.
He also provided a list of: What to do — and what not to do — during a blackout
McHale added a footnote: “It’s not lost on me that those residents [who] need to read this can’t because they don’t have power to get to the Internet. I ask those resident who do and are reading this to call their friends and neighbors who can benefit from this announcement. Thanks!”
The National Guard was in Paterson, evacuating people from a mammoth flood, with shelters opened on both sides of the surging Passaic River.
“All of a sudden, the river came up into the street and up through the manholes,” Dorothy Cook DiPiazza of Fair Lawn told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “I pray for all of my neighbors.”
In fact, Fair Lawn firefighters responding to an alarm needed a boat to get to the house.
Fortunately, it was nothing serious.
{loadposition log}
Click here to follow Daily Voice Hackensack and receive free news updates.
