South Street under water. Chuck McCarthy at work.(Photo by courtesy of Meghan Brown. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
A flash flood worsened by clogged storm drains covered a Red Bank intersection in waist deep water Friday, leaving residents looking for answers, and a way to keep it from happening again.
According to the National Weather Service .98 inches of rain fell at the nearest monitoring station in Holmdel Friday evening amid a deluge that lasted little more than an hour. Borough Manager Jim Gant said the “incredible shot of heavy rain in a very short period of time” caused flooding and tree limb damage at several locations in town.
On South Street near the intersection with Madison, residents jumped into action to save their cars and other property from damage as the waters rose quickly.
A video taken by a family member shows South Street resident Chuck McCarthy standing thigh deep in the water while he furiously worked to clear debris from the storm drain in front of his house with a shovel.
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McCarthy said he would clear the drain and get the water flowing only to have it repeatedly and quickly clog up again. McCarthy’s next door neighbor Meghan Brown said she joined him moments later in the water to help. They said no cars or property were permanently damaged. Barely.
“If we hadn’t come out it would have been so much worse,” said Meghan Brown.
South Street was resurfaced last year. Residents said as part of the project new storm drain grates with narrower openings were installed. But they said they seemed to catch more debris and clog more easily. 
“I questioned them back then, I said, “It looks restricted,” McCarthy said, recalling his conversation with work crews who installed the new sewer grates. “It’s like putting a finer screen on a sink drain and that’s exactly what happened.”
Gant, as well as McCarthy and other neighbors, said the problem may have been worsened because many people had yard waste and brush on the street for the next pickup on June 20. Borough ordinances require yard waste to be placed at the curb no more than seven days before pickup and the storm hit within that window.
The intersection sits in a low lying area prone to flooding. During a storm about a decade ago, the intersection trapped enough water to pick up two parked cars, depositing one in what is now McCarthy’s front yard.
Gant said borough workers were examining the line today to see if there were other blockages besides the one at street level that may have caused a backup.
“The Borough will be assessing this specific issue on Madison to see if a blockage exists further up the line since the flooding was significant,” Gant said in an email. “It is my understanding that the water subsided quickly which indicates that the amount of rain in the short period of time played a major role.”
Meanwhile, McCarthy said he is asking the borough for storm drain grates with wider openings.
“I hate to even think around reliving that. That’s why getting the sewer grate fixed is really, really important,” he said.
It the borough doesn’t take action, he has other tools besides that shovel.
“I hope they’re going to do something about it,” he said. “But look, I am in construction. I have no issue going and manipulating that sewer if I have to.”
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