When a powerful rainstorm hit the region in mid-December, Janette Martinez of Little Falls, N.J. became trapped in her home. First-responders rescued Martinez’s family as flood waters moved in on their house, a few hundred yards from the bank of the Passaic River.
“The rescue was frightening. It was all last-minute,” she said. “I didn’t think it was going to be this bad.”
But then a few weeks later, another storm pounded North Jersey. Martinez, her husband, three kids and father-in-law had to leave their home again. For two days, they lived in a hotel.
“It was irritating and expensive,” Martinez said. Since then she’s packed a bag of clothes and saved money in case another flood forces her family to leave again.
Little Falls Mayor James Damiano said the major flooding in part of his town — which prompted hundreds to evacuate temporarily — is the first that the community has dealt with in more than a decade. For days after the rains stopped in December, the Passaic River remained well above its major flood stage, spilling water onto residential streets. The same happened again in January.
The Passaic has flooded badly enough to prompt federal disaster declarations more than a dozen times since the late 1960s, with some floods proving deadly. Meanwhile, rainfall is increasing rainfall each year in New Jersey, and state environmental officials said climate change will only make it worse. But the most talked-about project for alleviating flooding sound alarm bells for environmentalists — and any options carry hefty price tags.
“I would probably target it in the, if not billion, maybe multi-billion dollar range to solve this type of problem that we are experiencing,” Damiano said.
U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat who represents the 11th District in New Jersey, which includes Little Falls, said Damiano’s assessment that it’s a billion-dollar problem is “likely not far off the mark.”
Flooding is an issue around the state. But local…
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