Wicked Storm Turns Section Of New Brunswick, N.J. Into Waterworld
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Heavy rain flooded out a New Jersey neighborhood on Friday. Neighbors said a bad drainage system was to blame.
A Honda, a van and two other cars were submerged in water on Joyce Kilmer Avenue in New Brunswick. It took just minutes for the fast-moving rain to flood out the street, stranding a driver right in the middle of it.
"It was definitely above the wheels. When I got out it was at my hips," Vanessa Hamilton told CBS 2's Christine Sloan.
The other two cars belong to Carmen Figueroa, who told Sloan the storm drains on her street just don't work.
"We've been going through this for years. I've been here 15 years. I don't like it," Figueroa said.
A spokesperson for the city of New Brunswick said Middlesex County recently did repairs on the drainage system.
"You see the names on the bridge of all the people who worked on it thinking they did a very good job, did nothing," one resident said.
CBS 2's Sloan was unable to get comment from Middlesex County. The flood also forced out residents, who live in the basement apartments of a nearby building.
"I have this much water in it," Jake Williams said. "I have a machine and the stuff I breathe on [are] all full of water."
Residents what upsets them more ... they have to clear the drains out themselves.
"I go out there and clean up the drain to help the water go down quicker," Figueroa said.
While it took just minutes for the heavy downpour to flood the street, it took the same amount of time for the water to recede, leaving behind a muddy mess.
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