New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill visits Camden as cleanup from intense flash flooding continues

Residents and business owners in Camden are cleaning up after flash flooding inundated parts of the city Monday, leaving damaged property, spoiled inventory and costly repairs in its wake.

Daniel Duran, owner of JYM Supermarket in Camden's Gateway neighborhood, said floodwater filled the store's basement after more than 4 inches of rain fell on the city in a little more than an hour.

"We are, quite literally, still underwater," Duran said.

The flooding knocked out refrigeration equipment, forcing the store to discard thousands of dollars' worth of frozen food and other perishables.

"I'm having a lot of spoilage for the ice cream that went bad, from the refrigeration units being down," Duran said. "I got the ice freezer down, so all the ice, all the frozen foods, the shrimp, the fish and all that good stuff, it's no good anymore."

After spending hours pumping water from the basement, Duran said the store was cleared by the health department to reopen. He is now calling on state or local officials to provide financial assistance to help the business recover.

"Expedite it. If they're gonna help us, expedite it," Duran said. "If they're not gonna help us, tell us now, so we can look to other means."

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill visited Camden on Tuesday, stopping at the Camden Fire Administration Building to thank first responders for their efforts during the flooding.

Sherrill encouraged residents and businesses affected by the storm to report their losses to emergency management officials.

"We're asking everyone to report the damages through the Office of Emergency Management," Sherrill said. "Some of the applications we'll have for federal assistance will be very technical, so we want everyone to report those damages so we can calculate them."

During her visit, the governor also toured Camden's new high-water rescue vehicle, which Camden Fire Chief Jesse Flax said played a critical role in rescue operations.

"It was probably the MVP of the whole day, pulling people out of cars," Flax said.

Flax said firefighters used the vehicle to rescue people stranded in flooded cars and homes.

"We had the companies taking care of anybody that was inside of a house that had flooding in the basement, stuff like that, that were suffering any kind of flooding issue," he said.

City officials are urging anyone who experienced flood damage to report it to Camden's Office of Emergency Services by calling 856-757-7132 or 856-757-7139. The damage reports will help officials assess losses and determine whether the city qualifies for state or federal disaster assistance.

Across the river, Philadelphia's Fishtown neighborhood was also hit with heavy rain and flooding Monday. Residents on Tuesday dealt with the aftermath. 

"We have a little back patio space, that was at least three inches deep. That started coming into our office, our living room, our dining room, closet and then it started coming in from the apartment next to us," resident Finnley Truman said.

Becca Ward said water seeped into her apartment and also moved her car, which was parked on the street nearby, a few inches onto the sidewalk.

"We had a lot of water come on into our apartment," she said. "And a lot of stuff was destroyed."