Irene: One Year Later

Sunday marks the first anniversary of the storm that rocked New Milford to its bones. It pulled trees from their roots, flooded streets and cars, caused people to be evacuated from their homes by emergency services, decimated homes and businesses and left so many without power.

After  blew through New Jersey in August 2011, Patch was there to cover the hurricane that had been downgraded to a tropical storm.

The impact of the storm and subsequent flooding is still evident in New Milford, one of the most severely impacted towns in Bergen County. New Milford is slated to receive $403,075 in state  to assist with the purchase of five homes affected by repetitive flooding and heavily damaged by Irene. Some residents are still in the process of rebuilding parts of their homes that were essentially destroyed.

The legacy of the storm is evident at zoning board meetings concerning the that borders the Hackensack River where the topic of flooding dominates much of the public's comments and questions. The site plans for the 13.6-acre United Water property call for a mixed use development that includes a 70,500 sq. ft. supermarket, 4300 sq. ft. bank and a 221-unit multi-family housing complex.

Irene also impacted  by flooding its cafeteria causing a delay in the opening, devastated the borough's fields adjacent to the river, flooded the DPW building and caused a great deal of damage to the New Milford Swim Club. 

But good things came out of bad situation. 

Irene brought a community together to help those most affected by the storm. Neighbors helping neighbors, businesses donating food for Donna Colucci's Labor Day of Love barbeque that brought a little bit of normal back into the lives of those residents whose homes saw the most destruction and whose lives had been interrupted by Irene. 

In the aftermath of Irene, a  was established by Freeholder John Driscoll to look at flooding on a County-wide scale and establish a unified voice in fighting for State and Federal aid. The committee is comprised of mayors and officials from flood affected towns throughout Bergen County, including New Milford's Mayor, Ann Subrizi. The mission of the committee is to develop both short and long-term solutions to repetitive flooding that has plagued many municipalities since Hurricane Floyd and try to get the DEP to help tackle the issue of flood control from a regional standpoint. 

One year later, we want to know: Does the storm continue to impact you? What changes did you make in and around your home? Did your business, or neighboring businesses survive the wind and flood damage? Did it cause you to become more involved in local government?

Add photos of your neighborhood from the storm, and photos today so we can see how far New Milford has come since the worst storm since Floyd hit.

Leave your comment below, and share your stories and photos about how Irene impacted you and your family.

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