Council urges Army Corps to fix Poplar Brook problem

Resolution acknowledges toll on those displaced by flood

BY LINDA DeNICOLA Staff Writer

BY LINDA DeNICOLA
Staff Writer

OCEAN TOWNSHIP — Township officials are frustrated and have reached the saturation point over the need to protect residents from severe flooding of the Poplar Brook corridor.

At last week’s council meeting, the council passed a resolution urging the state Legislature and the governor to expedite any remaining studies that need to be conducted to secure funding for a solution to the problem.

The most recent flooding situation occurred on Oct. 14 when there was a total evacuation of the Poplar Village senior housing complex in addition to the evacuation of numerous homes on Brookside Avenue in the Oakhurst section.

The Poplar Village complex consists of 96 apartments that accommodate affordable housing units for seniors and people with disabilities. Following the storm, 23 of the 96 units were condemned pending extensive repairs that are in the process of being undertaken. Substantial personal property was lost, not only due to this flooding event, but also to prior floods.

The resolution acknowledges that the toll of human trauma outweighs the toll of the property damage.

The flood corridor has been the subject of numerous studies by the Army Corps of Engineers spanning decades without any actual implementation of flood relief measures other than those put in place by local municipal and nonprofit agencies.

In addition, the resolution states, flooding of the Poplar Brook puts the Township of Ocean sewerage authority treatment plant in jeopardy.

The resolution was to be sent certified to Gov.-elect Jon S. Corzine, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, Congressman Frank Pallone Jr., acting Gov. Richard J. Codey, Sen. Joseph A. Palaia, assemblymen Steven J. Corodemus and Sean T. Kean, the borough of Deal mayor and council and the Ocean Senior Housing Corp.

Ursula Krecman, manager of Poplar Village, a HUD-subsidized senior citizens’ retirement community, said after the flooding that 23 of the 93 units in the garden apartment complex were ruined and the rest had to be evacuated because of water filling the crawl spaces under the apartments.

“The insulation has to be pulled out of the affected apartments,” she said, adding that there was 3 to 4 feet of water in 23 of the units in the one- story buildings. In addition, Krecman said that about 30 cars were ruined in the flood.

Five or six of the elderly residents were put up in temporary housing at the Middlebrook Apartments on Route 35 and Deal Road, and some have gone to stay with relatives. Trailers have been donated so that residents have a place to store what is left of their belongings.

Krecman said just after the flood that this was not the first time the complex had been flooded, but it was the worst.

“It happened in 1992, but we built a brick retention wall around the complex and spent $40,000 to $50,000 on pumps,” she said. “Up to now, it worked. This time, the water went right over the protective wall.”

She added: “I’m concerned every time there is heavy rain and so are the tenants. It’s so sad to see them waiting to be evacuated.”

Krecman said that the Army Corps of Engineers has been there after floods in the past.

“They have studied this problem for the last 25 years. It’s disheartening that nothing has been done,” she said.

Congressman Frank Pallone Jr., ((D-6) who visited shortly after the flooding occurred, explained that the heavy rains caused a dramatic rise in the height of Poplar Brook and floodwaters came through a breach between a stone and earthen berm and the brick wall that combine to protect the area from smaller flooding.

The breach could not hold back flood waters caused by heavy rains over an eight-day period, he said.