Tracking Henri: Relentless Rain Floods Residential Roads, Topples Trees In Bergen County
NEW MILFORD, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Flash flooding and toppled trees were major problems in northern New Jersey on Sunday after Henri swept through the region.
Flashing emergency lights lit up dark streets in Bergen County on Sunday night.
Hours after Henri made landfall as a tropical storm about 200 miles away in Rhode Island, trees in northern Jersey towns like Ridgewood were still snapping and falling on homes.
In Livingston, a mangled mess of branches became a shared burden amongst neighbors.
Ground and tree trunks are super saturated from all the rain dumped by #Henri. This is a Livingston, NJ @CBSNewYork pic.twitter.com/aUb0iEHdHV
— Jessica Layton (@JLaytonTV) August 22, 2021
Homeowner Shelly Cohen told CBS2's Jessica Layton he wasn't home when it all came down, but his neighbor Jackie Chiu was.
They checked on each other and chatted about the storm damage that cut between their two yards.
The old trunk was so soaked, it snapped, allowing a huge portion of the tree to fall, take down power lines and land on the Fellswood Drive homes.
"It's just been a lot of steady rain, that's the weird part. I don't know if the tree was just wet or if maybe, you didn't hear it get struck by lightning or anything, did you, last night?" homeowner Shelly Cohen said.
"No," Chiu said.
"I guess it was just time. So just, it's not even that windy. Fortunately, I was very lucky. I think just sort of everything rested on the side. So I think, all told, it could've been a lot worse," Cohen said.
"We called the township already ... and they're gonna call PSE&G because there's a power line down and also the cable," Chiu said. "My major concern is the power line because for safety reasons because it keeps raining."
Garden State Parkway just before the exit for Oradell. @CBSNewYork ???? pic.twitter.com/ZT6ULzq3PD
— Jessica Layton (@JLaytonTV) August 22, 2021
The drenching rain made driving dangerous, especially for one driver who hydroplaned on the Garden State Parkway North and ended up on the side of the road, facing the wrong direction.
Local fire departments were busy pumping out basements and responding to a home in New Milford that had water pouring out of the breaker panel -- a stressful situation for that homeowner.
There were no breaks for Bergen County Department of Public Works crews who went street to street, cleaning out storm drains and putting up barricades to close residential streets for flash flooding, but all in all, it was manageable damage in a storm so many feared could become a disaster.
CBS2's Jessica Layton contributed to this report.