Passaic River anthologist Wheeler Antabanez got up close and personal with the raging floods in Little Falls and Paterson, and sent us this video. Meanwhile Kristie Cattafi went over to Little Falls this afternoon and listened in on the mayor’s news conference. Read her report in the jump.
There are 350 to 400 homes under water right now in Little Falls, Mayor Michael De Francisci says.
A press conference was held at town hall at 2 p.m., just as the Passaic River at Little Falls was expected to crest to 13 feet. Right before the mayor began speaking, the river was at 11.9 feet, almost double the height of the average flooding stage.
“Our pumps are only good when water starts to recede,” Mayor De Francisci said to answer the many questions of when the town will begin to pump water.
The township is expecting to spend at least $250,000 in flood-related costs for additional emergency and clean-up services.
Although there has not been a mandatory evacuation, the township has been advising people in the flood zone to evacuate since Saturday night. Despite the warnings people still decided to stay.
“We changed the system. We told people that we could not commit the resources to get them in the middle of the night if the chose to stay,” Mayor De Francisci says.
There have been 40 to 50 people evacuated from their homes by police and fire department and there are 20 people at the civic center shelter, where Red Cross is providing food and supplies. Some people at the shelter are from Woodland Park.
The water deepness on some streets ranges from 3.5 to 5 feet.
“The Falls is really rolling over the dams and moving fast,” Mayor De Francisci says. “We are stressing that people stay away from the water. We are going to control it the best we can.”
Picture above, showing the Costco parking lot in Wayne on Sunday, sent in by reader Brenda Cole. Picture below, by Michael Guerin, is of a residential street in Little Falls. And below that, hoops picture by Justin Gurbisz, whose excellent set of flood images from just up the road in Bloomingdale can be found here.
I love this video but I want to know what that creature is at 6:05!
Wow. I thought about going to the falls on Sunday, but it was late in the day
This guy is a dimwit. “I hoped a few fences to get closer to the action” (near the river, past danger signs).
He’s going to fall in and then someone will have to try to save his sorry butt.
I love Wheeler. There’s a Wheeler inside of me dying to get out. 🙂
But I still want to know what that creature is. Is it a personal pet of his or did he discover some mutant life form along the Passaic?
If the oh-so-cool monotone voice wasn’t annoying enough, the idea that he’s getting away from “the tourists” is laughable.
It ain’t the Statue of Liberty, you know.
Any “tourists” are very likely to be local folks- like him.
But still, we know, “they” won’t be as cool as Wheeler.
I really enjoyed the video.
I’ve lived in the Northeast my entire life and never heard the word nor’easter as a kid or young adult.
When did this become the synonym for a really bad storm? It seems like it started about 10 years ago.
The wind was out of the Northeast. That’s why.
martta,
its a statue
Good video. Could be about 3 mins shorter.
Really cool video. Thanks, Wheeler!
looks like a lizard or something. All I kept thinking was “wow, look at that whitewater!” Definitely class IV rapids… man, that would be a hell of a ride!
It’s also a term used Downeast (maine and the like) to describe that type of storm.
I dunno. Didn’t look like a statue to me, it looked real. Looked like something that is native to Indonesia, not NJ.
Hey, you’re right, Mrs. M. That was one big ass lizard. Hey Wheeler, is that thing real or f/x?
I have a feeling it’s just a wet statue. When he pans back to the water you can see a few other statue/bird feeder things over there.
The guy in the video looks like the police sketch of the Unibomber.