Flash Flood — Hunterdon, New Jersey

2009-08-02 · near Califon, Hunterdon, New Jersey

Event narrative

Thunderstorms with torrential downpours caused considerable flash flooding of smaller streams and led to flooding along the South Branch of the Raritan River. Numerous roads were flooded and three bridges had to be closed. Hardest hit were Clinton and Tewksbury Township.

In Clinton, the Beaver Brook flooded for the second time this summer. It flooded Main Street, East Main Street, Lehigh Street and Old Highway 22. Some stores and their basements were flooded. The flooding brook carried benches, newspaper bins, garbage dumpsters and even a couple of cars. More than two dozen basements were flooded. In Clinton Township, Camp Carr was evacuated. In Tewksbury Township, the Rockaway Creek (which exceeded its banks by 100 feet) flooded basements on Water Street. In Califon Borough, basement flooding as flooding along Main Street and Old Califon Road occurred. In Readington Township, along the South Branch of the Raraitan River, flooding was reported in the Stanton area.

The biggest public property toll occurred to three bridges in the northern part of the county. In Tewksbury Township, the Water Street Bridge between Longview Road and County Route 639 was expected to be closed for repairs for up to five months. The Guinea Hollow Road Bridge was expected to be closed for up to 10 weeks after a wall collapsed. In Lebanon Tonwship, the Buffalo Hollow Road Bridge between Poplar Road and New Jersey State Route 31 was also closed for about three weeks.

Event precipitation totals included 4.35 inches in Califon, 3.62 inches in Annandale, 3.51 inches in High Bridge, 3.45 inches in Clinton and 2.48 inches in Flemington.

Wider weather episode

A cold front arriving from the west late in the day on the 2nd moved into a warm and moist air mass, which resulted in thunderstorms across the area with torrential rainfall. Hunterdon County reported the worst damage. Flooding occurred from Mercer and Hunterdon Counties northeast through Morris and Middlesex Counties. Doppler Radar storm total estimates average 1.5 to 3.0 inches across the region, most of which fell within one hour.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.7300, -74.8300)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 193433. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.