Downtown, Rahway

Hurricane Ida hits Rahway

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Remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped almost 10 inches of rain on Wednesday, causing widespread in Rahway and beyond, reminiscent of Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

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.MyCentralJersey.com reported an estimated 9.78 inches of rainfall in Rahway for the 24 hours ending 10 a.m. on Thursday. According to Wikipedia. the average rainfall in Rahway for September is 3.7 inches and the average annual is 43.4 inches. So, in one 24-hour period, Rahway received some 22% of the amount of rain that it gets in a typical year.

UPDATED: Here’s a 1-minute drove video surveying the damage by Terry Starr of Studio 7 Rahway.

Google Street View

An explosion, possibly caused by a gas leak, demolished a home on River Road at Whittier Street early Thursday morning and damaged neighboring homes. The family had evacuated because of flooding several hours earlier, according to Mayor Ray Giacobbe, Jr. A GoFundMe campaign for the family had raised more than $36,000 as of last night.

Barriers along the Irving Street bridge, which carries motorists and pedestrians over the Robinson’s Branch of the Rahway River between Seminary and Central avenues, appeared to be missing after the storm. Hamilton Street and the parking lot adjacent to Hamilton Stage under water and across the river on Central Avenue, Veterans Memorial Field was submerged, nearly to the crossbar of the football goal posts. Fox News aerial footage had a good aerial view of St. Georges Avenue to Irving Street, including the New Church Street area.


The Rahway Police Department put out a list of contacts in case residents need help:

  • For emergent building issues: building@cityofrahway.com
  • For issues with health or social work: health@cityofrahway.com
  • Engineering: engineering@cityofrahway.com
  • Red Cross North Jersey: 973-797-3300
  • Red Cross Central Jersey: 732-493-9100
  • DPW: 732-827-2060
  • PSE&G: 800-436-7734
  • Verizon: 800-483-0722
  • Elizabethtown Gas: 800-483-0722

Tropical Storm Floyd in 1999 caused record floods of the Rahway, Millstone and Saddle rivers, according to nj.com, with the Raritan River in Bound Brook rising to a height of 42 feet – 5 feet higher than the previous record. That storm flooded the Rahway Public Library, then located at the corner of St. Georges and Central avenues. It flooded numerous times at that location since it was built and was demolished in 2001, making way for Berzinec Park, with the new Rahway Library facility erected in its current location in 2004.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Blue Acres program purchased and razed about 20 flood-prone homes in the area of New Church Street and Central Avenue, as well as several on West Grand Avenue. The area on New Church Street has since been dedicated at Sal Mione Park.

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