Evacuations, State Of Emergency: Ida Slams Mercer County

MERCER COUNTY, NJ —Tropical storm Ida wreaked havoc across Mercer County Wednesday, with multiple roads flooded and numbers of emergency evacuations.

Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency across New Jersey Wednesday night as Ida spawned powerful tornadoes and significant flash flooding from south to north.

County Executive Brian M. Hughes has ordered that all Mercer County Offices and facilities to be closed Thursday, Sept. 2 under the State of Emergency due to Ida. Employees other than essential personnel are not expected to report to work.

Trenton

Residents living in Trenton City’s low-lying areas were evacuated as the Delaware River was forecast to rise above the flood stage by Friday. The power grid was turned off in the area until Thursday morning. Residents were asked to seek shelter at the Joyce Killmer School.

Here are the evacuated areas in Trenton:

• Clearfield Avenue
• Columbia Avenue
• Riverside Drive
• Lipton Avenue
• Newell Avenue
• Laclede Avenue
• Bloomfield Avenue
• Westminster Avenue
• Mt. Vernon Avenue
• Rodgers Avenue

Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora was monitoring the situation from the ground. “I’m out here with TPD Director Wilson and OEM Coordinator Griffin in the Island neighborhood and as expected, water levels are rising dangerously high,” Gusciora said on Facebook Wednesday night.

Princeton

All of the main roads in and out of Princeton are flooded and closed. All the municipal buildings in Princeton are closed on Thursday. Princeton Police and EMS conducted several water rescues Wednesday night. Police have asked residents not to drive through flooded streets and/or around barricades. The following roads are currently closed:

• Quaker Road
• Mercer Road
• Stockton Street (Rt. 206)
• South Harrison Street

The following roads are now open:

• Washington Road
• Alexander Road
• Cherry Valley Road
• Rosedale Rd
• Princeton Kingston Road

Lawrenceville

Several downed trees and road closures were reported in Lawrence Township on Wednesday night. Lawrence Township Police Department said that Route 1 and Trenton Freeway is closed from Trenton and Darrah Lane to Quakerbridge Road due to major flooding on Thursday.

Here are the other roads closed:

• Carter Rd. from Van Kirk – Carson
• Princeton Pike NB at Province Line Rd.
• 206 North at Province Line Rd.
• Whitehead Rd. from Sweetbriar – Freeway
• Rt. 1 NB at Darrah Lane
• Franklin Corner Rd. from Rt. 1 - Princeton Pike Bakers Basin Rd. from Rt. 1 - Basin Rd.
• Rt. 1 SB from Kelly via duct - Franklin Corner Rd. Rosedale Rd. @ Province Line Rd.

Anyone needing to travel to Princeton Hospital can use Princeton Pike North to Province Line Rd. to Rt. 1 North.

West Windsor

Many roads in West Windsor were closed on Thursday morning due to flooding. Many residents lost power, but as of Thursday morning, power has been restored to a majority of affected areas. West Windsor Senior services are canceled and police have asked residents not to venture outside.

Here are the current road closures:

• Washington Road on both sides of Route 1
• Alexander Rd to Princeton
• Alexander Rd Between Roszel & Vaughn
• Harrison St to Township Line with Princeton
• Rt 1 South at Buffalo Wild Wings down to 1 lane. Expect Delays

Hopewell Township

Due to the storm, the following roads are closed on Thursday, Sept. 2.

• Upper Stony Brook, south of Van Dyke
• Bayberry at Morris- bridge is out
• Old Mill Rod
• Pennington- Rocky Hill Rd
• Valley Rd due to wires in trees
• Pennington- Titusville Rd near bridge due to wires down

Meanwhile, New Jersey Transit rail service remained shut down in northern New Jersey, and at Newark Liberty International Airport, flights were slowly beginning to resume.

The New Jersey Turnpike was shut down for several hours by flooding in both directions just south of Exit 12 in Carteret but finally cleared to allow drivers to resume their trips about 3:45 a.m.

Here are the rainfall totals for each Mercer County town:

• Hopewell Township - 9.13 in.
• Pennington - 6.86 in
• Princeton - 6.15 in
• Lawrence Township - 5.91 in
• Trenton - 5.60 in
• Ewing Township - 5.29 in
• West Windsor Township - 4.96 in
• Hamilton - 4.12 in
• East Windsor - 3.95 in

(Patch will keep updating this post as more information on road closures, evacuations come in.)