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Community Corner

Irene A Storm Like Morris Plains Has Never Seen

Homeowners struggle with flooding after rains overwhelm basins, flood ponds.

Barry Imming went to put the dog out Sunday at 6:05 a.m. and didn‘t notice anything too unusual. Less than a half hour later, water was rushing into his backyard in amounts he's never seen since he moved to his home at 19 Valley Stream Drive in 1994.

He wasn’t the only one in shock.

“We’ve never seen this,” said Morris Plains mayor Frank Druetzler. Both Druetzler and the borough’s police chief, Scott Thompson, were surveying the situation around noon as water continued pouring at a steady, fast pace at Imming’s home. At 17 Valley Stream Drive, also behind yellow police tape, water rushed  past the family doghouse, leading apparently into Imming’s drain way. Earlier the water had poured down the front yard of No. 17, leaving behind mud and debris.

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Imming’s water inundation was a result of flooding at Watnong Pond, a good 500 to 600 yards behind his home, and the apparent breaching of detention basins at Pfizer, also located behind homes on the street, said Thompson. The police department was still struggling with flooding in the Route 53 area where one resident had to abandon her vehicle after she drove past several barriers and wound up in four foot high water, he said.

Both Druetzler and Imming said that Pfizer’s detention basins were larger and longer, and were the result of an expansion several years ago. The water rushed from Imming’s house downhill to a swampy area that curves around to Valley Stream Drive.

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“Our cul de sac is still underwater,“ said Chris Zunin, who lives at the end of that drive.  By noon the water had retreated somewhat making most of the street passable.

Ginny Little and Arlene Inglis at No. 3 Valley Stream Drive said initially the water was coming so fast it blocked the street. Inglis described the wooded area behind the two streets as a “glacial bog.”

The Votapeks across the street from Inglis and Little were still trying to figure out Sunday afternoon where the water came from as they worked to clear out their basement. On higher ground, their main worry was the large trees in the backyard, so they decided to sleep on air mattresses in the carpeted basement with their three children, Christian, Oliva and David.

At 6:30 am. Sherri Votapek decided to get up. "I put my hand down to get out of the mattress and I was like ‘oh no!'" She was looking at five inches of water, even though the family had installed French drains a decade ago.

Councilman Joe Cecala, whose department is public safety, said Route 53 at the train station was not underwater because of large pumps installed by New Jersey Transit a dec ade ago. However, local officials are watching the Watnong River and Pond which crested  after the storm.

“Anything is possible,” said Cecala. “If we get more rain or wind, I have no idea.”

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