Delran Township officials hold meeting to mitigate future flooding as homeowners recover
DELRAN, N.J. (CBS) -- Delran Township leaders are meeting Wednesday night to discuss steps to mitigate future flooding after 50 homes were affected by major flooding from a storm system three weeks ago.
The meeting is expected to include information about ongoing discussions between Delran Township and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding a potential feasibility study to examine the issue.
The meeting comes as homeowners like Jim Otis continue to face challenges.
"My three granddaughters, their life is in here," Otis said, pointing to a dumpster outside his house. "The five-year-old won't go in the house. She's afraid. The seven-year-old is starting to show signs of PTSD. She broke down crying twice because all her memories are in here."
His family is staying in a motel after homeowners condemned his house.
Otis said his flood insurance only covers home repairs and not temporary housing.
"We have a couple more days, and we got to figure out where to get financing from," Otis said. "People with flood insurance really need to look at their policy because I was naive. I didn't understand things. Sit down with your insurance agency, go over it."
Bob Gilbert said he's one of the luckier ones.
Besides shelling out more than $1,800 for a new water heater, his house is in good shape, and he said his sump pump is still pushing out water underneath his house.
He plans to attend Wednesday night's meeting.
"I really don't expect a whole lot from the meeting," Gilbert said. "They'll promise the moon but until I see it delivered, I can't believe anything they say."
Otis also will be at the meeting.
"I'm hoping for change," Otis said. "I'm hoping they fix the problem so it never occurs to the residents of this area again."
But Delran Township Council President Tyler Burrell said there's no easy fix.
"We're not 100% sure what those mitigation solutions are going to be," Burrell said. "Our engineering professionals, who are a lot smarter than me, have warned us that there is no perfect solution."
Burrell acknowledged that it's been a slow process to find solutions, attributing it, in part, to the slow pace of the federal government.
"The concerns from the residents, and rightfully so, is they're frustrated about the inaction down there," Burrell said. "I empathize with them because this process is extremely, extremely slow."
The meeting started at 7 p.m. at the Delran Township Municipal Building.