Update: Floodgates Will Be Opened Ahead of Sandy
Floodgates on the Pompton Lake dam will open early in anticipation of storm.
Photos
The floodgates on the Pompton Lakes dam will be manually opened Saturday in anticipation of Hurricane Sandy in an effort to relieve possible downstream flooding for residents who live below the dam.
The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a press release on the decision Friday night.
“New Jersey’s reservoirs are designed to provide water, not for flood control,” DEP Commissioner Martin said in a statement. “But given the situation, we decided we needed to get as much water out of the reservoir systems as possible, creating void space for runoff from the storm.”
The DEP will manually open the gates and keep them open to drain five feet of water from the lake. This should allow the water to safely pass through downstream communities. The gates will go back to automatic operation once the water is drained.
Assemblyman Scott Rumana and other local and state officials have been asking the DEP if the gates could be opened ahead of the storm to avoid the catastrophic flooding that plague residents downstream last year after Tropical Storm Irene.
“We’re getting everything that we asked for,” said Rumana, a member of the Passaic River Basin Flood Advisory Committee.
The gates are a sore subject for residents of Wayne, Pompton Lakes, and other municipalities who live below them in flood zones.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers designed the gates to open automatically when the water behind them reaches a certain height. Since they became operational in 2007, residents have said they've made flooding downstream worse.
"Those gates haven't done a thing to make anything better for anybody living below them," said Julie Smith, a Pompton Lakes resident who's been flooded four times since the gates came online. "At least now the DEP is listening to us and opening them early."
Governor Chris Christie ordered the gates raised the day before Tropical Storm Irene hit North Jersey in August 2011. Despite three feet of water being drained behind them, the gates were closed before Irene hit and lowered after much of the rain fell. Water rushed out from behind the dam and caused the worst flooding in the area in 100 years, residents said.
“If the storm comes in and the water starts rising, if the gates are already open we’ll eliminate that rush of water we experienced last year,” Rumana said.
The Boonton, Charlottesburg, and Wanaque reservoirs will also be allowed to drain, Rumana said.
— Have a question or news tip? Contact editor Daniel Hubbard at Daniel.Hubbard@patch.com or find us on Facebook and Twitter. For news straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.
Scondo
7:37 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
Good move.
Elizabeth
8:12 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
They should be opened NOW, could take 3 days to drain as much water as needed!
leanbean
8:23 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
Scott, I'm glad you listen.
scott pettersen
8:30 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
I agree. Open the damns now. wWhy wait?
the dude
8:56 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
Will not matter, the gates have no impact on downstream flooding.
You heard it here first...not...the study said the same thing months ago.
We told you so....let's see what happens.
Nose Wayne
11:30 pm on Friday, October 26, 2012
Dude, Guess you don't live in the flood plain. See what "HAPPENS".
YGBFKM
7:25 am on Saturday, October 27, 2012
One small item you might have missed(I didn't), last night's press release stated that the gates would remain open throughout, now first thing this am they will be closed when five feet is drained and put back on auto(the PROGRAM). Eliminating the effect of the gates(leaving them open) is the only answer. My "studies" have been done and cost MUCH less than the $15mil, 3.5mil, 350k etc., etc., etc.
Sandy Fantau
9:31 am on Saturday, October 27, 2012
The article states the Wanaque can also release water before the up coming storm. As of 9.00 am no water has been released from this body of water. Lets hope the do so later on today.
Steve
9:47 am on Saturday, October 27, 2012
5 ft. may not be enough and won't help if those dams upstream don't do the same thing. Putting the Pomton dam back on automatic is not wise.
Ed Zachary
10:02 am on Saturday, October 27, 2012
Here we go again.
Sandy Fantau
10:50 am on Saturday, October 27, 2012
Just took this off the north jersey new paper site. Which one is correct. Are they going to keep the gates open to prevent the serge of water or close them like they did during Hurricane Irene?
Christie ordered the drawdown of Pompton Lake around mid-day Saturday, with the state Department of Environmental Protection manually operating the flood gates at the dam there to lower the lake by five feet, Commissioner Bob Martin said in the statement. That work is expected to take five to six hours and the gates will go back to automatic operations afterwards, he said.
Lake Hopatcong, which is a state-owned lake in Sussex County, also will be drawn down Saturday.
Wayne Mayor Christopher Vergano and Pompton Lakes Mayor Kathleen Cole had asked the state to open the flood gates at the Pompton Lakes Dam. Residents in towns along the Ramapo and Pompton Rivers believe the gates increase flooding, though a state study this year concluded otherwise.
“We want to have them open so you don’t have the surge impact that you’ve had in the past,” said Assemblyman Scott Rumana, R-Wayne, who pushed for opening the gates.
Flood Plain
5:57 pm on Saturday, October 27, 2012
If the administrators of the gates are allowed to make the decisions, there will be massive flooding. The administrators have no ability to see reality in the "flood plain."
Nose Wayne
6:57 pm on Saturday, October 27, 2012
Didn't we learn from Irene, YES WE DID !!!!! Why don't they DRAIN Pompton Lakes and LOWER the water supplies. With this amount of rain expected, they will ALL fill up again. 5 feet is not going to do a DAM thing,OPEN THE GATES AND LEAVE THEM OPEN !!!!!!
The Thorn
8:20 pm on Saturday, October 27, 2012
What about the dam up in Arden, NY that was suppose to be open 3' feet but dropped 12' during Irene. Who is responsible for the Arden dam?
Heather Butler
11:35 pm on Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Any chance you still want to pursue this?
Steve
9:55 pm on Saturday, October 27, 2012
Again - just 5 feet? Automatic control?
Nose Wayne
10:03 pm on Saturday, October 27, 2012
KEEP THE GATES OPEN !!!!! Guess they don't care what people tell them. Thank you Scott. Keep after these idiots !!!!!!
joe
10:59 pm on Saturday, October 27, 2012
KEEP THE DAM GATES O P E N ! CLOSING THEM DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO RELIEVE THE FLOODING, SINCE THE WATER SIMPLY BUILDS BACK UP BEHING THE DAM GATES!
Check out this web site to see that once the DAM GAtes are closed the water builds back up to it's original height and higher!
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nj/nwis/uv?cb_00065=on&format=html&period=&begin_date=2012-10-26&end_date=2012-11-03&site_no=01387998
just hit GO to get updated into on height of the water behing the DAM gates.
Nose Wayne
11:29 pm on Saturday, October 27, 2012
Channel 2 News was just live on Hamburg Turnpike and the gates were BARELY OPEN !!!!! They closed them again. Water is backing right up to where it was. They didn't even lower it 5 feet like they said they would. LIES,LIES,LIES !!!!!!! Can't wait to hear this EXCUSE ? GOD BLESS US ALL !!!!!!
Steve
12:25 am on Sunday, October 28, 2012
OPEN THE GATES FOOLS. TAKE NO CHANCES.
YGBFKM
7:19 am on Sunday, October 28, 2012
LEAVE THE GATES OPEN!
OR LEAVE THEM CLOSED!
NO TIDAL WAVE WHEN THEY'RE OPENED MID-STORM!
Sandy Fantau
10:32 am on Sunday, October 28, 2012
The Boonton, Charlottesburg, and Wanaque reservoirs will also be allowed to drain, Rumana said.
Just checked the level of the Wanague. It still has not been lowered
Scondo
5:52 am on Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Wanaque was at 60 percent capacity at end of August , today it was at 70 percent, so it was not in need of lowering, as it already was well down. If it is already low it does not need to be dropped. Rain from this storm was not all that great.