Post by novillero on Aug 12, 2008 20:58:17 GMT -5
Strong rain overwhelms area's drainage system
Freehold Borough Council announces plans for repair work
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
FREEHOLD — Denise and Jack Shea were having a family party at their home on Broadway (Route 79) on the afternoon of July 27, but a torrential downpour that raced through their neighborhood changed all that in a matter of minutes.
The intense rain affected many residents in Freehold Borough, especially those in the neighborhood near Broadway and Douglas Road, and left in its wake flooded basements, flooded driveways, overflowing pools and some damaged vehicles.
Douglas Road intersects Broadway at the edge of the Freehold High School property.
Residents said municipal officials and employees responded immediately to help them address the conditions, which looked like something out of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
On Aug. 4, Denise Shea and some of her neighbors attended the Borough Council meeting to thank officials for introducing an ordinance that will provide for road work and drainage improvements on Douglas Road and the surrounding area. A bond for $225,000 will be used to help pay for the work.
Shea described the events of July 27 and brought photos that showed the severity of the situation. Her pictures showed cars that were almost submerged under water and of people running through the water to try and save their vehicles before it was too late. She thanked those who responded to the emergency and did what they could to address the situation.
Shea later explained that during the torrential downpour and amid the dangerous, almost continuous lightning strikes and heavy winds, people struggled to move their vehicles to higher ground in the Freehold High School parking lot in order to prevent permanent damage to their cars.
She said that during the 13 years she has lived in the neighborhood, moving the cars has become a practice during storms, but this one was different.
"The borough has tried over the years to address the situation with different things like patching and adding another drain, but nothing has really worked," she said.
Families in the neighborhood are looking forward to not spending hours sweeping out their garages, checking basements for flooding and running feverishly to move their cars to the Freehold High School parking lot to keep them safe when there is the threat of a major storm.
The damage that resulted from the July 27 storm, which lasted a little under 30 minutes, according to Shea, took about a week to clean up, but she had some help.
"We can't say enough about the borough officials and employees," she said. "They were out here helping us as soon as they found out about our problem."
Jack Shea said Mayor Michael Wilson was out to assess the situation in town and visited the locations where problems had cropped up.
Wilson said by the time he arrived on Douglas Road some of the water had receded. After seeing pictures of what the rain had done to the area, the mayor said he had never seen anything like it in the borough. He said Douglas Road looked like Lake Topanemus.
He said officials will do whatever they can to resolve the situation. The mayor said borough departments worked "in harmony to help a bad situation be remedied."
"Their (borough officials) response was unbelievable," Jack Shea said. "They even sent engineers out several days later to try to solve the problem and do what they could to keep it from happening again. They really took the situation seriously. They were proactive in this situation and their response was immediate."
Shea said Norm Townsend, who heads up the water department, came to his house to offer assistance. The Freehold Fire Department helped to pump out the Sheas' pool and helped to refill it.
Shea summed up his reaction to the borough's response during a very difficult and harrowing situation with the following words: "On a scale of 1 to 10, I give the borough an 11."
A July 5 storm also caused problems in the neighborhood, but not nearly as severe as what happened on July 27 when water was rushing down Douglas Road.
Borough Administrator Joseph Bellina said the work to be done will address the situation. It is hoped the project will begin in the late fall.
"For many years, significant rains caused floods in that area on Douglas Road," Bellina said. "The drainage system failed and it will continue to fail. We've cleaned the pipes and kept basins open but the underground pipes just don't have the capacity to handle heavy rainstorms."
Repairs will include sidewalks being installed on Broadway within the borough's right of way to provide a means of channeling the water "to guide it down Broadway to its logical downward flow point, which is the drainage collection system in the Freehold High School parking lot," he said.
Bellina said that will prevent the water from staying on Douglas Road, wiping out driveways and going into backyards.
The elevation of the sidewalk in front of certain Douglas Road homes is also planned.
"This will keep the water on Douglas Road instead of going onto the properties," he explained.
One underground pipe which goes across Douglas Road will be replaced by two pipes, and a double catch basin will be installed on both sides of the street.
The intersection of Douglas Road and Runyon Avenue will see the removal of an existing inlet, replacing it with a double inlet to increase the water drainage.
The last item on the repair list is to build up the flat road surface in the area of the intersection of Broadway and Douglas Road. Bellina said he will have to meet with state Department of Transportation representatives because this area is in the state's right of way.
"We intend to redesign that section so it has a mounding effect and keeps the water on Broadway and off Douglas Road and have it continue to the high school parking lot," Bellina said.
newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2008/0813/front_page/006.html
Freehold Borough Council announces plans for repair work
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
FREEHOLD — Denise and Jack Shea were having a family party at their home on Broadway (Route 79) on the afternoon of July 27, but a torrential downpour that raced through their neighborhood changed all that in a matter of minutes.
The intense rain affected many residents in Freehold Borough, especially those in the neighborhood near Broadway and Douglas Road, and left in its wake flooded basements, flooded driveways, overflowing pools and some damaged vehicles.
Douglas Road intersects Broadway at the edge of the Freehold High School property.
Residents said municipal officials and employees responded immediately to help them address the conditions, which looked like something out of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
On Aug. 4, Denise Shea and some of her neighbors attended the Borough Council meeting to thank officials for introducing an ordinance that will provide for road work and drainage improvements on Douglas Road and the surrounding area. A bond for $225,000 will be used to help pay for the work.
Shea described the events of July 27 and brought photos that showed the severity of the situation. Her pictures showed cars that were almost submerged under water and of people running through the water to try and save their vehicles before it was too late. She thanked those who responded to the emergency and did what they could to address the situation.
Shea later explained that during the torrential downpour and amid the dangerous, almost continuous lightning strikes and heavy winds, people struggled to move their vehicles to higher ground in the Freehold High School parking lot in order to prevent permanent damage to their cars.
She said that during the 13 years she has lived in the neighborhood, moving the cars has become a practice during storms, but this one was different.
"The borough has tried over the years to address the situation with different things like patching and adding another drain, but nothing has really worked," she said.
Families in the neighborhood are looking forward to not spending hours sweeping out their garages, checking basements for flooding and running feverishly to move their cars to the Freehold High School parking lot to keep them safe when there is the threat of a major storm.
The damage that resulted from the July 27 storm, which lasted a little under 30 minutes, according to Shea, took about a week to clean up, but she had some help.
"We can't say enough about the borough officials and employees," she said. "They were out here helping us as soon as they found out about our problem."
Jack Shea said Mayor Michael Wilson was out to assess the situation in town and visited the locations where problems had cropped up.
Wilson said by the time he arrived on Douglas Road some of the water had receded. After seeing pictures of what the rain had done to the area, the mayor said he had never seen anything like it in the borough. He said Douglas Road looked like Lake Topanemus.
He said officials will do whatever they can to resolve the situation. The mayor said borough departments worked "in harmony to help a bad situation be remedied."
"Their (borough officials) response was unbelievable," Jack Shea said. "They even sent engineers out several days later to try to solve the problem and do what they could to keep it from happening again. They really took the situation seriously. They were proactive in this situation and their response was immediate."
Shea said Norm Townsend, who heads up the water department, came to his house to offer assistance. The Freehold Fire Department helped to pump out the Sheas' pool and helped to refill it.
Shea summed up his reaction to the borough's response during a very difficult and harrowing situation with the following words: "On a scale of 1 to 10, I give the borough an 11."
A July 5 storm also caused problems in the neighborhood, but not nearly as severe as what happened on July 27 when water was rushing down Douglas Road.
Borough Administrator Joseph Bellina said the work to be done will address the situation. It is hoped the project will begin in the late fall.
"For many years, significant rains caused floods in that area on Douglas Road," Bellina said. "The drainage system failed and it will continue to fail. We've cleaned the pipes and kept basins open but the underground pipes just don't have the capacity to handle heavy rainstorms."
Repairs will include sidewalks being installed on Broadway within the borough's right of way to provide a means of channeling the water "to guide it down Broadway to its logical downward flow point, which is the drainage collection system in the Freehold High School parking lot," he said.
Bellina said that will prevent the water from staying on Douglas Road, wiping out driveways and going into backyards.
The elevation of the sidewalk in front of certain Douglas Road homes is also planned.
"This will keep the water on Douglas Road instead of going onto the properties," he explained.
One underground pipe which goes across Douglas Road will be replaced by two pipes, and a double catch basin will be installed on both sides of the street.
The intersection of Douglas Road and Runyon Avenue will see the removal of an existing inlet, replacing it with a double inlet to increase the water drainage.
The last item on the repair list is to build up the flat road surface in the area of the intersection of Broadway and Douglas Road. Bellina said he will have to meet with state Department of Transportation representatives because this area is in the state's right of way.
"We intend to redesign that section so it has a mounding effect and keeps the water on Broadway and off Douglas Road and have it continue to the high school parking lot," Bellina said.
newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2008/0813/front_page/006.html
