Middletown Monitors Flooding of Low-Lying Sections of Town

Flooding is a top concern for Middletown Dept. of Public Works Director Joseph E. “Ted” Maloney. 

On a trip along the Bayshore Wednesday night as a nor'easter was whipping the Bayshore, he explained how heavy rain can cause the local streets to flood. 

Maloney said that when the wind blows out of the northeast, it blows into the Raritan Bay and prevents the tide from receding. Then the rains fall, and there's no storage in the bay, and it causes flooding. 

"All that water rolls into the back bays here, to the marsh, and then there's nowhere for the water to go. Even water from the bay will come up from the drains and flood the streets of Port Monmouth. 

Certain sections of town, like on Main Street, were already flooded at 4 p.m. Wednesday. That observation led Maloney to predict that the water level could be as high as 8 to 10 inches at the next high tide, occurring at 3:30 a.m. Thursday. 

Maloney's team monitors the water levels at the pumping station in North Middletown, on the border with Keansburg. Three diesel pumps pump all the water that comes into the chamber from the North Middletown watershed out to the Bay, which keeps it dry. He said the station is manned daily, and also during nor'easters.

An electrically-operated vertical floodgate in Port Monmouth located on Wilson Avenue can sense water on both sides of the gate. It automatically closes when the water gets to a certain level to keep the tide out. When the tide recedes, it opens back up to let the water out. It is meant to protect the area around Main Street, Brainard Avenue, Monmouth Avenue and Wilson Avenue but is designed for weekly "nuisance flooding," not larger storms. 

Congressman Frank Pallone (NJ-06) recently announced that Port Monmouth could be protected from flood through levees, floodwalls, dunes and beach renourishment as part of an upcoming large-scale beach replenishment project. 

A meeting about Port Monmouth flooding will be held at the VFW on March 21. Read more here.