Hoboken street faces flood risk after paving mishap blocks drains
Paving error blocks Hoboken storm drains
A street in Hoboken could be in trouble with this week's rain all because of a paving mishap. Workers accidentally paved over storm drains in front of people's homes. FOX 5 NY's Antwan Lewis takes a look at how this could happen in the first place and how officials are in a race against time to fix the mistake.
HOBOKEN, N.J. - As Debby promises to dump more rain on the NYC area, a street in Hoboken could be in trouble because of a paving mishap.
When Hudson County workers paved Park Avenue last week, they accidentally paved over some residential storm drains.
Hoboken homeowner Dave Radlin says a sump pump is his lifeline when flooding happens.
However, getting any flood water out of his home and onto the street is problematic right now.
"Just when they were putting the pavement down. Some parts of it seemed higher than the curb," Radlin said.
"We were alerted this morning by the water company that some of the water main valves on the street had been covered up as well," Hoboken city councilman at large Joe Quintero said.
The mistake comes on the heels of Tuesday's storms and just ahead of the remnants of Tropical Storm Debby, which are expected to arrive by the end of the week, and Park Avenue is prone to flooding.
"There's times when it's this high, bad times. Like really bad times, like if you get a really bad storm like a Nor'Easter it's a little different," Quintero said.
Hoboken officials notified Hudson County officials after numerous residential complaints.
Hudson County Executive Craig Guy says they are in the process of correcting the error.
On Thursday, he provided an update on the road paving issues in Hoboken by saying:
"Leading up to the recent Hoboken road paving projects, Hudson County officials met with Hoboken officials on seven separate occasions over the last two months to finalize details of the project. These officials worked collaboratively to determine the scope of work and finalize the project’s timeline. We have been - and continue to be - in frequent contact with municipal officials regarding this project."
"If there is an issue, and it's a problem within the county or a municipality, my job is to get down here. Whether it's 50 degrees, 90 or raining like it is now, I want to get to the root of the problem," Guy said.
Radlin says he understands mistakes happen and appreciates the quick response from Hudson County officials.
Fortunately, he didn't need his sump pump on Tuesday night and is hoping that will also be the case in the latter part of this week.
"I've been here over 20 years, so I've dealt with Hurricane Sandy and stuff like that. I'm prepared as long as my sump pump lines work, and we have some municipal lines that are also supposed to work," Randlin said.
"I want to make clear that this project is two years in the making. We accommodated the city by waiting to start the project until after a water main project was completed along Park Avenue. City officials had two years to raise concerns and have been invited to every discussion along the way," Guy said in a statement.