Damage from high winds and flooding creates problems across New Jersey
NEW JERSEY – From downpours and flooding to damaging winds, some New Jersey residents are still cleaning up from this weekend's wild weather.
The winds caused widespread problems Monday, taking down trees and power lines.
Meanwhile, parts of the state remain under water, particularly along the Passaic River.
In Wayne, several roads were shut down Monday after being flooded out.
Omar Moncada watched and worried as water from the Passaic River slowly receded from his backyard.
"My whole yard was flooded, everything. My son's room got destroyed," said Moncada.
It's the third time Moncada's yard flooded since he moved to Wayne eight months ago. Now, he's prepared with bags of sand.
"Right now, I see it going up. So we're kinda worried," he said.
While winds are dying down and the Passaic River is slowly receding, expect the water to stick around until Wednesday.
Wind causes damage across the area
The wind gusts made for big waves off Fire Island, plus it caused damage in many places. A tree came down in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, and fell on top of a car.
Trees also snapped in half, damaging homes in Hillsdale, N.J.
The owners have only been in the home a few months, and in a matter of seconds, a gust of wind turned the back of a picture-perfect cottage into a wreck.
A 70-foot tree crashed into Mike Sokol's home, doing damage to the roof, skylights and kitchen.
"It's pierced right through the top of the roof skylight. Through the skylights, there's branches hanging through the ceiling. There's stuff everywhere," Sokol said. "I was in the living room, and I heard a large ruckus, commotion and I went to the kitchen and there's a tree in the kitchen."
Sokol's home is on Riverside Drive in Hillsdale, and Sokol showed CBS New York's Dave Carlin cracks in the walls after the impact. He's glad his wife wasn't at home at the time, and that he wasn't in the kitchen.
"The issue is the flooding. Ground is wet, and the trees are becoming uprooted," Sokol said. "It's pretty bad. I probably wouldn't be here if I was in the kitchen."
In Hoboken, a 33-year-old woman was struck in the back by a falling wooden awning on the sidewalk in the 200 block of Washington Street. She was taken to the hospital.
Righta across the street, restaurant workers and patrons saw the immediate aftermath.
"We found out the lady got hit by one of the things that fell," one person said.
"We just say the young lady on the floor, a baby in the buggy, and a couple of ladies assisted her," tourist June Langley said.
In Ridgefield Park, Scott Lingle's neighbor had a tall tree topple in the backyard.
"This wind's been that bad today so it just blew it down," Lingle said. "It is dangerous for every, anybody. Even just letting the dogs out. Can't do it."
Flooding in Paterson
Parts of New Jersey along the Passaic River are still under water from the weekend's heavy rainfall.
Saturday's storm caused widespread flooding across the state, filling basements and shutting down roads.
River Flood Warnings remain in place along portions of the Passaic, Saddle, Millstone, Still and Housatonic rivers through Wednesday morning. Strong winds in Monday's forecast also threatened to take down trees and power lines.
- First Alert Weather: Wind and river flooding to remain a problem into Monday night
On River Street in Paterson, notorious for flooding, water on the base of the trees revealed how high the Passaic River got. Officials said they believe it crested at about 7.5 feet, a foot above the flood stage. Happily, it appears to be receding slightly, but the damage has already been done.
The owner of Gazoline Alley, a used auto parts shop at Jefferson Street and Presidential Boulevard, showed CBS New York's Natalie Duddridge how high the water got in each of the three floods in the last three months. The owner said this weekend's flooding wasn't as bad as December and January, but he still got four inches inside his shop.
"I've lost two months worth of work and $150,000 in inventory... Computer servers, electronics... Water, you can't stop -- pressure washers, tire machines, forklifts," he said.
The owner said the city needs to take action.
"For 40 years, they said they were going to dredge this river. It's full of tires and refrigerators, God only knows what," he said. "There's no reason the water should come up like this."
"When it rains, River Street is more river than street. We're trying to address that," Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh said.
Sayegh said five people had to be rescued Saturday night after driving into floodwater.
"Two of them on River and Montgomery, three of them on Fifth Avenue. I want to emphasize that you should not drive into water," Sayegh said. "Thankfully, our first responders did get to these scenes in a timely manner and no lives were lost, no injuries."
- "On borrowed time:" Residents of flood-prone areas of N.J. following the storm anxiously
Sayegh said Paterson is investing $8 million to repair River Street sewers over the next year.
"Sixty percent of the sewer needs to be relined underneath River Street, and 40% needs to be reconstructed," Sayegh said.
Fairfield also impacted
CBS New York's Elijah Westbrook spent the morning in Essex County, where several roads were flooded in Fairfield.
The Passaic River is expected to crest there late Monday night into Tuesday morning and then eventually go down, according to the National Weather Service.
Lane Road was completely under water for the morning commute. Several other roads, including Horseneck, Commerce and Stewart Place, were also flooded.
"It just keeps getting worse and worse. They didn't even clean up all the garbage over there or nothing since the last two floods," said Fairfield resident Jimmy Love.
The longtime resident of the township said this was at least the fourth time conditions got this bad since January.
"You worry so bad about the people that are in the back back there. They canoe out of their house to out here, which is more than a half mile in from right here," he said.
Trash and debris could be seen floating in nearly a foot of water. Residents even had to move their cars down the street to avoid any damage.
Passaic River overflows in Little Falls
Over in Little Falls, the water kept creeping up toward people's homes. The area saw approximately 3 inches of rain fall over the weekend, and the river isn't expected to start receding there until Tuesday morning.
Earlier this winter, New Jersey's riverside communities were devastated by flooding from back-to-back storms. Residents are too familiar with pumping out their homes, and many have started to sell.
"Eventually we are going to lose this whole neighborhood," former Middlesex Borough Mayor John Madden told CBS New York last week. "Whenever there is a large amount of rain forecasted, it creates a huge amount of anxiety."
"We are on borrowed time right now," resident Ken Beck said. "This could be the night that that house goes in, and ultimately, what's the impact? Will my house be the next one?"
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