Little Falls mayor expects "prolonged flooding situation" with more rain on the way
LITTLE FALLS, N.J. -- Residents in one section of Little Falls watched the Passaic River move into their community Friday.
Roads are already completely flooded, and the concern is that more rain moving in Friday night could cause it to spread.
The township is using pumps to get water out, and, while some of the water has receded, the pumps can't keep up with the volume coming into the low-lying area.
Several streets remain flooded, and it's forcing residents to walk through the mess to get to their homes.
Watch Christine Sloan's report
The Saenz family lives beyond the floodwaters. They're staying put but making sure they have everything they need to make it through Friday night.
"We should prepare just in case the power goes off. We buy this generator for at least the sump pump still running ... With this machine, you can at least plug in the sump pump, and at least the water stays in the basement," Albaro Saenz said.
"We are just kind of stuck at home. In the backyard, it's up to the deck," Tezza Saenz said.
Like most here, the family's frustrated. Floodwaters keep inundating their section of town that sits near the Passaic River. When there's heavy rain, the river rises and spills over into their neighborhood.
"A lot of us that've been dealing with this do not leave our homes because no one cares about the inside of our home, so if we leave, we can potentially get flooded inside, lose more stuff, then they tell you to apply for FEMA, but then your insurance goes up," Little Falls resident Cynthia Saenz said.
They say officials have no solutions and elevating a home isn't so easy.
A high-water vehicle is the only thing able to navigate through the flooding easily. Crews are on standby in the event residents who have chosen to stay behind in their homes have to be rescued.
Watch Christina Fan's report
Residents want us to stress that only 2% of their township has to deal with the river moving in -- Little Falls' quaint downtown is not in a flood zone -- but for the hundreds who do, it's a pain in the neck.
"The only thing we can do is just prepare and hope for the best," Little Falls resident Erwyn Suruy said.
"It's kind of sucky to live like this," Little Falls resident Yajaira Mendez said.
The mayor said Friday afternoon they had already gotten 24 inches on some streets and as much as 30 inches on others. Eighteen roadways had to be shut down. The mayor spent the day assessing the damage and says there's basement flooding. His concern is more rain over the weekend and the potential for power outages.
"The gauge predictions only read out so far, but we are expecting this river to, while it begins to recede, it's going to come back up, and these pumps aren't going to be able to pump this area out as this new water comes in, and unfortunately, we're looking at a very prolonged flooding situation out here," Mayor James Damiano said.
The mayor says that this may be a problem that goes well into next week.
"We're seeing this flooding coming up. We actually have a shelter open up down the street at the Little Falls Civic Center for people to come if they need to grab a meal, need to charge their device, if they're being evacuated from their homes," said Sara Huisking, executive director of Red Cross Northern New Jersey.
The mayor says they rescued about five people who chose to stay behind in their homes, including a newborn baby.
