Flash Flood — Middlesex, New Jersey

1996-10-19 · near Countywide, Middlesex, New Jersey

Wider weather episode

Rain, very heavy at times especially around noon on the 19th in Middlesex County caused widespread urban and poor drainage flooding as well as flooding of the smaller streams. Flooding closed parts of United States Routes 1 and 9 and New Jersey State Routes 18, 27, 28, 35, 82 and 124 as well as the Garden State Parkway. Total damage estimates were around 2.7 million dollars. One person was injured when she was swept away by flood waters while walking toward the Metropark Train Station in Woodbridge during the afternoon of the 19th. She clinged to a branch in the rain swollen ditch for about 20 minutes before another passing woman and her son rescued her.A Limited State of Emergency was declared in Dunellen, Old Bridge, Perth Amboy, South Brunswick, South River and Woodbridge. About 200 persons were evacuated in all, about 70 from Dunellen alone. In Dunellen, twenty homes were damaged by the flooding, a dozen had serious structural damage; one was moved off its foundation. Damage in the borough alone was close to half a million dollars. In Woodbridge 40 persons were evacuated from the Kensington Garden Apartments. Ten stores in the Foodtown Shopping Center were severely flooded by the south branch of the Rahway River. A house on Barron Avenue was condemned after flood waters from the Wedgewood Brook flooded the street. The flooding was exacerbated by a debris dam that formed where the brook travels under the Conrail Railroad Tracks. In Piscataway, evacuations from the Birchview and Mayflower Apartment Complexes occurred on River Road (near the Raritan River). Kennels were flooded in South Brunswick. In South Plainfield, damage estimates reached 140,000 dollars. Fourteen roads were closed with water as deep as six feet and residents from 35 homes were evacuated. Storm precipitation totals included 6.85 inches in Iselin, 6.51 inches in Edison, 5.5 inches in Woodbridge, 5.47 inches in South Plainfield and 4.59 inches in New Brunswick.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5577595. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.