Barberio on the Flood: 'I Am Going to Investigate'

At Tuesday's Township Council meeting, Mayor James Barberio made a promise to people demanding information about the cause of flooding that devastated hundreds throughout the township and particularly in lower Lake Hiawatha.

"I am going to investigate it," he said. "I will find out what happened."

The controversy centers around United Water and whether the company released waters from the Boonton Reservoir dam. Some contend that a release may have made the flooding worse than it would have been otherwise.

that the company released water after being urged to do so by Gov. Chris Christie on the Friday before the storm hit on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 27 and 28. 
At the release that Friday night, rain began to fall.

"Nobody wanted to add to potential flooding, so we stopped the release," Henning said. "Then Mother Nature took over, and we all know Mother Nature is a real force to be reckoned with."

He insisted, "There were no more releases after that."

But the company issued a warning around 5 p.m. Sunday, just as Rockaway River's waters rose. The alert went to the Parsippany Police Department and to local media outlets, including Patch.

Henning said this warning was automatic, appearing "when water approached roughly 6-8 inches of topping over the dam. Then the water started receding about an hour later and [the warning] was revoked."

Patch never received a revocation notice.

Flooding affected more than 800 homes in the area. At least 10 houses were deemed permanently uninhabitable. Hundreds of families are still struggling to get their lives back to normal and many continue to be displaced. The devastation has created a lot of anger and turmoil in the township, along with cries for answers.

Mayor Barberio said he will attempt to find those answers and plans to meet soon with United Water and other mayors whose towns were affected by floods.

At the same time, the mayor said we may have to accept that Mother Nature is the cause.

Referring to the flood wall that is supposed to protect lower Lake Hiawatha from the Rockaway River, Barberio noted that it was a "100-year wall" that "couldn't handle a 500-year storm." He pointed out that more than 12 inches of rain fell in less than 24 hours and recommended that residents look at the charts provided at waterdata.usgs.gov to see the actual levels the water reached.

Barberio also explained that while United Water released some dam waters on Friday, there simply wasn't enough time for reservoir water levels to drop low enough to prevent flooding.

"It could only lower 4-5 inches in 48 hours," he said. "Water flowed over the dam, and tributaries added to the Rockaway River flood." 

The mayor added that at this point, he had no data to back up those statements. But he said sometimes, though it may be difficult to accept, nature is what causes destruction and suffering of the kind Parsippany is enduring.

Barberio delivered a public message of thanks to the responders, police officers, township officials and employees and volunteers who helped residents during Hurricane Irene. Assembled residents joined in, offering a huge round of applause.