Flood issues,
a year later
This week’s constant drumbeat of stories about the latest hurricane to barrel down on the U.S. had to remind Manville and Hillsborough residents of just one year ago and the tropical storm Irene that pounded the area.
Some homes, particularly along the Millstone and Raritan rivers in Manville, were devastated, with families uprooted. Homes on the Sourland Mountain in Hillsborough and businesses were closed for days because water had cut off electricity and access, and then remained closed to clean up the mess. We couldn’t get around because roads were flooded.
The question today is how far we’ve come in the last year to prevent or mitigate such floods. Nine municipalities and Somerset County formed a flood review commission, which is good, which initially pushed to look at every possible project, big and small, to reduce runoff, eliminate flow bottlenecks and implement planning practices to work with the environment, not against it.
But the steam of the moment escaped with the sobering conclusion that we can do little without money from the state or federal government to fund the necessary studies on causes and possible solutions. In today’s economic climate, everyone’s well meaning, but their pockets are empty.
State legislators have passed a law allowing tax money raised for open space purposes to be used to buy out flood-prone properties, but we haven’t heard much from county or municipal leaders on using that new tool.
We do remember the plaintive exasperation of plain and simple homeowners who came to government meetings with their individual horror stories. People spoke so movingly and honestly, with so much exasperation, that it was easy to be touched and then to be overwhelmed by how to react. Mostly, they were told, “we’ll get back to you.”
Honestly, we have to ask ourselves if we employed all our wiles, and used all our resources, big or small, in the last year. Perhaps the communities deserve a report.

