Flood — Somerset, New Jersey

2007-04-15 to 2007-04-19 · near Lamington, Somerset, New Jersey

Event narrative

In Somerset County, the flooding was the worst since the remnants of Hurricane Floyd in September of 1999. About 1,600 people were evacuated with Bound Brook, Manville and Somerville among the hardest hit municipalities.

In Bound Brook Borough, about 1,100 homes were evacuated. The downtown Main Street area was hit the hardest, but homes and businesses were also flooded on Talmage Street, Mountain Avenue, Fisher Road, Fairview, Drake and Linden Avenues and Second Street south to the Raritan River. Schools and churches were used as shelters. About 600 people were still in shelters as of April 27th. National Guard troops were mobilized as 300 people were rescued from flood waters. Flood waters reached up to 7 feet on Main Street and flooded many businesses. The historic Brooks Art Center Theater was damaged again. In a similar scene to Floyd in 1999, three homes were destroyed on East Street as firefighters could not make their way through flood waters to extinguish the blaze. The stench of raw sewage, mud and heating oil permeated throughout the flooded areas. Schools reopened on the 25th. That was the same day that the Queens Bridge between Bound Brook and South Bound Brook reopened.

In Manville Borough, homes in the Lost Valley area were flooded up to their first floor. About 300 people were evacuated and 700 homes were damaged by flood waters. In Somerville Borough, about 200 people were evacuated from the areas of South Bridge, East Cliff and Culver Streets. New Jersey State Route 28 was closed, as was U.S. Route 206 in both Somerville and Raritan. In South Bound Brook Borough, the Raritan River and the Delaware and Raritan Canal merged into one. People were evacuated from Canal Street, Finchley Gardens and the Town Oaks Apartments. In Hillsborough Township, six roads were closed and evacuations occurred from homes along the Millstone River. In Branchburg Township, roads near the North and South Branches of the Raritan River were closed through the 16th.

The North Branch of the Raritan River at Raritan was above its 10 foot flood stage from 526 p.m. EDT on the 15th through 1231 p.m. EDT on the 16th. It crested at 13.20 feet at 230 a.m. EDT on the 16th. Farther downstream, the North Branch of the Raritan River at North Branch was above its 12.3 foot flood stage from 345 p.m. EDT on the 15th through 934 a.m. EDT on the 16th. It crested at 15.43 feet at 100 a.m. on the 16th. Farther downstream, the North Branch of the Raritan River at South Branch was above its 7 foot flood stage from 1116 a.m. EDT on the 15th through 502 a.m. EDT on the 17th. It crested at 14.31 feet at 415 a.m. on the 16th. It was the 2nd highest crest on record, second only to the crest from Hurricane Floyd on September 16, 1999. The main stem of the Raritan River at Manville was above its 14 foot flood stage from 744 p.m. EDT on the 15th through 947 a.m. EDT on the 17th. It crested at 22.1 feet at 1200 p.m. EDT on the 16th. It was the 3rd highest crest on record and the highest since the Hurricane Floyd crest on September 16, 1999. Farther downstream, the Raritan River at Bound Brook was above its 28 foot flood stage from 644 p.m. EDT on the 15th through 350 p.m. on the 17th. It crested at 38.38 feet at 1245 p.m. EDT on the 16th. It was the 2nd highest crest on record, second only to the crest from Hurricane Floyd on September 17th, 1999. The Millstone River at Griggstown was above its 10 foot flood stage from 1146 a.m. EDT on the 15th through 720 p.m. EDT on the 18th. It crested at 22.16 feet at 1215 p.m. on the 16th. Farther downstream, the Millstone River at Blackwells Mills was above its 9 foot flood stage from 600 p.m. EDT on the 15th through 724 a.m. EDT on the 18th. It crested at 19.24 feet at 1245 EDT on the 16th. It was the 2nd highest crest on record, second only to the crest from Hurricane Floyd on September 17th, 1999. Farther downstream, the Millstone River at Weston was above its 12.4 foot flood stage from 827 p.m. EDT on the 15th through 131 p.m. EDT on the 16th. It crested at 20.14 feet at 100 p.m. EDT on the 16th. The Pike Run River at Belle Mead was above its 7 foot flood stage from 1204 p.m. EDT on the 15th through 1015 p.m. EDT on the 16th. It crested at 8.95 feet at 630 p.m. EDT on the 15th. The Lamington River at Burnt Mills was above its 9.5 foot flood stage from 1150 a.m. EDT on the 15th through 715 a.m. EDT on the 16th. It crested at 12.1 at 1100 p.m. EDT on the 15th. The Green Brook at Plainfield was above its 8 foot flood stage from 354 p.m. EDT on the 15th through 747 p.m. EDT on the 15th. It crested at 9.52 feet at 630 p.m. EDT on the 15th. The Passaic River at Millington was above its 8 foot flood stage from 848 p.m. EDT on the 15th through 235 a.m. EDT on the 19th. It crested at 9.35 feet at 215 a.m. EDT on the 17th.

Precipitation totals included 6.73 inches in Somerset, 6.27 inches in Hillsboro, and 4.92 at Somerville Airport.

Wider weather episode

An intense nor'easter brought heavy rain and flooding to New Jersey that started on the 15th. The worst flooding occurred along the Raritan and Passaic River Basins. It was the worst flooding in the Raritan Basin since Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Bound Brook and Manville were once again hit hard as were communities on the other side of the Raritan River in Middlesex County. Along the Passaic Basin, Lincoln Park also was hit hard. The nor'easter also brought strong to high winds as well as some snow to the state on the 16th. Numerous streams and rivers flooded, but the flooding along the Delaware River was minimal.

Statewide damage was estimated at $180 million dollars. It was the second worst rain storm (not related to a hurricane) in the state's history. Acting Governor Richard J. Codey declared a state of emergency on the 16th. About 5,000 people were evacuated in 11 of the state's 21 counties. At one time over 70 major roadways and interstates were closed including New Jersey State Routes 20, 23, 38, 46, 70 and 73 as well as U.S. Route 30 and Interstates 80 and 380. There were over 700 traffic accidents indirectly caused by the flooding and heavy rain. Three people in the state drowned. The strong winds caused about 120,000 homes and businesses in the state to lose power. Power was not completely restored until the 18th. The combination of the snow, wind (power outages) and flooding caused many school districts to either cancel classes or have delayed openings on the 16th. Even Rutgers University was closed on the 16th and 17th. In the Raritan Basin, school closings lasted into the week of April 23rd. The nor'easter was so nasty that even the Internal Revenue Service extended the tax deadline for 48 hours in affected areas. The heavy and flooding rains was expected to delay the spring planting on farms. Garden center and nursery business which was already slow because of the unseasonably cold weather was dealt another set-back. Twelve counties in the state were declared federal disaster areas and included Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Mercer, Middlesex, Morris and Somerset Counties.

Rain began falling throughout the area during the late evening on the 14th. It started briefly as snow over some of the higher terrain of Susse County. The rain fell at its heaviest from about 3 a.m. EDT on the 15th to about 3 a.m. EDT on the 16th. As the upper air disturbance moved across New Jersey, the rain did change to snow for a couple of hours around sunrise on the 16th and accumulated about an inch or two on grassy areas in western New Jersey. The steady precipitation ended during the afternoon and early evening on the 16th. Event precipitation totals averaged 3 to 6 inches. Event snowfall totals were an inch or two in most areas, mainly on grassy areas.

The strongest winds occurred as the nor'easter pulled northeast of the region on the 16th from the early morning into the afternoon. The combination of the heavy rain, even some snow and the winds helped knock down numerous trees and power lines. Peak wind gusts averaged between 40 and 60 mph.

The nor'easter low pressure system initially formed in the southern Rockies on the 12th and moved to Arkansas on the morning of the 14th. At 8 p.m. EDT on the 14th, there were two low pressure systems, one in Kentucky and the other in western Alabama. The southern low pressure system became the predominate one overnight and at 8 a.m. EDT on the 15th, it (996 millibar low) was located in western North Carolina. As the 15th continued, it moved northeast and intensified rapidly. At 2 p.m. EDT the nor'easter (989 millibars) was near Raleigh, North Carolina. At 8 p.m. EDT, the nor'easter was a 979 millibar low pressure system near Virginia Beach, Virginia. Another low pressure system formed on its warm front during the afternoon over Chesapeake Bay and at 8 p.m. EDT it (982 millibars) was over extreme southwest New Jersey. The lows consolidated into one again overnight and a very intense 973 millibar low pressure system was located over Monmouth County, New Jersey at 2 a.m. EDT on the 16th. At 8 a.m. EDT on the 16th the nor'easter was down to 968 millibars and located over New York City. That was a drop in central pressure of 28 millibars in 24 hours which qualified it as a meteorological bomb (a drop in central pressure of at least 24 millibars in 24 hours) low pressure system. The nor'easter bottomed at a pressure of about 966 millibars (28.53 inches) at 11 a.m. EDT just south of Long Island, New York. To put into prospective how low the pressure was with this nor'easter, that central pressure is near the border of the pressure defined category 2 and category 3 hurricane once used on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. As the 16th continued, the nor'easter weakened and meandered across southwest New England and the New York and New Jersey coastal waters. By 2 a.m. EDT on the 17th, the nor'easter's central pressure rose to 988 millibars and a second storm formed on the triple point of its fronts south of Nova Scotia. This became the main low pressure system. The low pressure system then slowly moved southeast over the next couple of days. The heaviest precipitation fell as the low pressure system was rapidly intensifying on the 15th into the early part of the 16th. The strongest winds ceased after the low pressure system started to fill on the afternoon of the 16th.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.6700, -74.7200)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 26677. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.