Legislators Call For DOT Study Of Parkway Exit 91 Work, Flooding

BRICK, NJ — The flood waters had not even begun to recede when the questions began. Was the flash flood that poured water into homes and forced the evacuations of 105 homes in Greenbriar I just the result of a freakish deluge of rain or was it helped along by development?

In particular, did the new configuration of the Garden State Parkway at Exit 91 play a role?

"Was anything in that area changed when they did all that construction? It just seems weird that there was so much flooding where they did all that work," Rebecca Jason said in a comment on the Brick Patch Facebook page.

Sen. Jim Holzapfel and Assemblymen Dave Wolfe and Greg McGuckin, the 10th District legislators who represent Brick, expressed similar sentiments Tuesday afternoon in a letter they sent to state Department of Transportation Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti asking that the DOT look into whether the reconstruction of the interchange contributed to Monday's damaging floods and what can be done to remedy issues the contruction has caused.

"It’s a little suspicious that Greenbriar can go five decades without this kind of flooding, including during Superstorm Sandy, but it’s suddenly underwater a year after the adjacent Exit 91 project was completed," Wolfe said. "We need to know if changes to the grading or drainage in the area led to this flooding, and we need a plan to prevent it from happening again."

The Beaverdam Creek runs through part of Greenbriar 1, and on the other side of the Parkway is the north branch of the Metedeconk River.

Both of those sit amid the area that received the heaviest rainfall Monday. Brick received an unusual amount of rain — 7.83 inches, according to the National Weather Service. Upstream in Howell, 7.10 inches fell, and bridges on Lakewood Allenwood Road and Ramtown Greenville Road were compromised by flooding, police in Howell said. In Wall, 7.24 inches of rain fell and flooding kept several streets closed Tuesday, including Allenwood Road.

"The flooding that occurred yesterday along Burrsville Road and in Greenbriar is unlike anything the area has previously experienced, including during Sandy," Holzapfel said.

"Residents who lived through years of disruptive construction as Exit 91 was completed now live in fear that the next storm might flood them out of their homes again," McGuckin said. "We need to determine if this was a freak event that’s unlikely to happen again, or if it’s a direct result of the engineering of the interchange. If there’s something we can fix, we need to find out, and we need to do it immediately."

"Anyone who has lived in Brick for over 30 years will remember how uncommon flooding was back in the day," Al Clayton wrote on the Brick Patch Facebook page. "(This was) exasperated by overdevelopment and impervious ground cover in the 40 percent range. These are not rare events and will only get worse."

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Photos via Brick Township Police Department Facebook page