A New Jersey neighborhood prone to flooding was mystified when county contractors covered sump pumps and storm drains in the process of a repaving project.
It happened on Park Avenue in Hoboken in August, right before Tropical Storm Debby reached the area, as The Hoboken Girl reported.
In a subsequent accounting of the situation by PIX11, Hudson County executive Craig Guy said two sump pump drains were "accidentally" paved over and two or three storm drains were partially obscured.
Residents were also worried about the new height of the road, as it was flush with curbs in places, putting garden apartments at risk.
One local explained the problem in a Reddit comment.
"This is very problematic because we get water in the lobby of the building on bad storms and this will just increase the amount and frequency of the water," they said in a post about the PIX11 story.
That proved prescient, as even before the storm arrived, heavy rain caused flooding that was seemingly exacerbated by the repaving effort.
"It is important for you to know that during last night's storm event, the City's Office of Emergency Management Deputy Coordinator stationed on Park Avenue observed that water levels were higher than previous storms of this nature, likely due to the higher grade of the roadway where asphalt was laid at or near the curb elevation," Mayor Ravi Bhalla said in a letter to Guy on Aug. 7. "The City received multiple emails from longtime residents who observed flooding along Park Avenue last night as much worse than usual, with flood levels higher and quicker than previous storms."
PIX11 reported that the issues were to be remedied before Debby arrived and that crews were to "build up the sidewalks" within a week.
Hoboken, which sustained $110 million worth of damage when it was flooded by Hurricane Sandy and its 14-foot storm surge in 2012, has since spent years rebuilding, redesigning, and protecting the city to prepare for future flood events.
This is vital, as the human-induced warming of the planet leads to not only record heat but also increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather events, including heavy rainfall and floods.
But miscommunication — and even outright lying, the tack one Florida resident took after they intentionally plugged a stormwater pipe with concrete — hampers movement toward a safer future.
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