Do you think Millburn is Prepared for Another Irene? [POLL]
Over the last year, the township has taken steps to prevent flooding throughout town but businesses were told to prepare with sandbags.
Over the last year, in an attempt to keep the township dry, township officials hired an engineering firm to study the town's flooding. Essex County repaired the Diamond Mill Pond Dam in the South Mountain Reservation and Mayor Sandra Haimoff has been working with the Mayors Council on Rahway River Watershed Flood Control.
Yet, business owners in downtown Millburn say they are not optimistic about what would happen if a storm like Irene were to hit again.
"We were told to get ready for for another storm with sandbags," one of the owners of Tinga, David Fishman, said. "Nothing has been done to change the problems that occurred."
The township's business administrator, Tim Gordon, said, in a recent interview, preparing for flooding in town is the hardest thing on his agenda this year.
According to Gordon, he wants to have, "some public works employees’ supervisor and these block captains [key residents in flooding areas] to develop a rapport so when water gets to a certain level in backyards they'd be able to alert their counterpart in the public works department."
Millburn's Fire Department said, it is still making changes to prepare for another storm at Irene's magnitude. According to Roberts, the department has replaced pumps, changed response policy and arranged for pre-action meetings before any predicted events.
mark-m
12:11 pm on Tuesday, August 28, 2012
For eons, the area was (an is) a flood plain. It's a natural basin. Add that 82% of the earth is now covered with tar, cement, roads, and houses, where do we expect the water to go? Either Dike the towns it like Holland, or every time a house floods, abandon it. Let nature take back what is hers. But a good Dike project will only flood poorer communities down river.