If anyone is wondering about the conditions at the site of the 14.1 World Tournament, the information is updated regularly on the local paper's website. http://www.nj.com/new-brunswick/
Concern now is possible flooding of the Raritan river. This was posted on the paper site at 1PM Sunday:
MIDDLESEX COUNTY
• The entire county is under a state of emergency and only emergency personnel are allowed on the roads, according to Chris Conley, the deputy public information officer for the county Office of Emergency Management. Middlesex County is a mess, added John Ferguson, the county's emergency management coordinator.
“Everything is flooded,” Ferguson says. “There isn’t a town in the entire county that doesn’t have flooding. All 25 townships are flooded.”
Route 18, which hugs the Raritan River in New Brunswick, has scattered road closure. Towns with power outages include Woodbridge, Spotswood, South Brunswick, South Plainfield and Metuchen.
He wouldn’t speculate whether the Irene’s wrath will match the devastation of Tropical Storm Floyd.
“Ask us in four days,” Ferguson says.
• About 100,000 people—or approximately 25 to 50 percent of the county—are without power and the city of New Brunswick is inaccessible by highway or road, Conley said. "New Brunswick is like an island right now," Conley said, adding the flooding is from the rain, not the Raritan River which is not expected to crest over flood stage until Monday night into Tuesday.
• Conley said Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and St. Peters University Hospital are operating on their own generators and are taking new patients. They are not evacuating patients because he said they can handle the ones they have at this time. Parts of New Brunswick are without power.
• Local and county OEM officials are awaiting high tide in Raritan Bay when the storm surge expected to inundate the waterfronts in Perth Amboy, South Amboy, Sayreville and Old Bridge's Laurence Harbor and Cliffwood Beach, said Conley.
• He said towns have opened their shelters, as has the county. The state opened three at Rutgers and the main one, the College Avenue gymnasium in New Brunswick, has 350 people.
• Ferguson said the bayside towns made it through last night's high tide, but he said officials are concerned about this morning's high tide at about 8 a.m., when the storm surge is predicted to hit. "Our big concern is the cresting of the Raritan River," he said. "That's expected to be over 40 feet in Bound Brook, which will flood Middlesex Borough."
• Ferguson said the river may flood as badly as it did in 1999 with Hurricane Floyd when the river overflowed its banks in New Brunswick, flooding Route 18.
• Residents in the streets closest to the waterfront, including Front Street, Water Street and Sadowski Parkway, were ordered to move their vehicles.
• Cranbury issued a warning that the floods cut off the township's emergency 911 system. All emergency calls are being taken by the police department's non-emergency line, (609) 395-0031.
• New Brunswick also ordered residents in low-lying areas and the downtown to remove their vehicles from the street and arranged with the city's parking authority to allow them to park for free in one of its garages.
• Both Old Bridge and East Brunswick have declared states of emergency, which prohibits travel on municipal roads after 10 p.m. through the duration of the storm, officials said.
Concern now is possible flooding of the Raritan river. This was posted on the paper site at 1PM Sunday:
MIDDLESEX COUNTY
• The entire county is under a state of emergency and only emergency personnel are allowed on the roads, according to Chris Conley, the deputy public information officer for the county Office of Emergency Management. Middlesex County is a mess, added John Ferguson, the county's emergency management coordinator.
“Everything is flooded,” Ferguson says. “There isn’t a town in the entire county that doesn’t have flooding. All 25 townships are flooded.”
Route 18, which hugs the Raritan River in New Brunswick, has scattered road closure. Towns with power outages include Woodbridge, Spotswood, South Brunswick, South Plainfield and Metuchen.
He wouldn’t speculate whether the Irene’s wrath will match the devastation of Tropical Storm Floyd.
“Ask us in four days,” Ferguson says.
• About 100,000 people—or approximately 25 to 50 percent of the county—are without power and the city of New Brunswick is inaccessible by highway or road, Conley said. "New Brunswick is like an island right now," Conley said, adding the flooding is from the rain, not the Raritan River which is not expected to crest over flood stage until Monday night into Tuesday.
• Conley said Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and St. Peters University Hospital are operating on their own generators and are taking new patients. They are not evacuating patients because he said they can handle the ones they have at this time. Parts of New Brunswick are without power.
• Local and county OEM officials are awaiting high tide in Raritan Bay when the storm surge expected to inundate the waterfronts in Perth Amboy, South Amboy, Sayreville and Old Bridge's Laurence Harbor and Cliffwood Beach, said Conley.
• He said towns have opened their shelters, as has the county. The state opened three at Rutgers and the main one, the College Avenue gymnasium in New Brunswick, has 350 people.
• Ferguson said the bayside towns made it through last night's high tide, but he said officials are concerned about this morning's high tide at about 8 a.m., when the storm surge is predicted to hit. "Our big concern is the cresting of the Raritan River," he said. "That's expected to be over 40 feet in Bound Brook, which will flood Middlesex Borough."
• Ferguson said the river may flood as badly as it did in 1999 with Hurricane Floyd when the river overflowed its banks in New Brunswick, flooding Route 18.
• Residents in the streets closest to the waterfront, including Front Street, Water Street and Sadowski Parkway, were ordered to move their vehicles.
• Cranbury issued a warning that the floods cut off the township's emergency 911 system. All emergency calls are being taken by the police department's non-emergency line, (609) 395-0031.
• New Brunswick also ordered residents in low-lying areas and the downtown to remove their vehicles from the street and arranged with the city's parking authority to allow them to park for free in one of its garages.
• Both Old Bridge and East Brunswick have declared states of emergency, which prohibits travel on municipal roads after 10 p.m. through the duration of the storm, officials said.