Residents Evacuated from Riverview Section of Town

Firefighters, Department of Public Works Personnel and civilians evacuated several dozen residents from the Riverview section of Wayne Sunday afternoon.

DPW personnel drove rescue trucks into the floodwaters several times and took residents out of their flooded homes.

"We've never had to evacuate before. I've never felt anything like this in my entire life," Ayfer Deniz said. "Our house is higher than others around us, but the river was coming in from everywhere. We just had to get out."

One Maple Lane resident and her eight cats and two dogs were rescued. The owner could not get another cat to go with her. 

"I haven't seen it this bad since the flood in 1984," said Lance Wallace, a Black Oak Ridge Road resident who rents a house out on Shore Road. "We can't keep this stuff out, no matter what they do. The people who live here are stuck. They can't move out, but they can't keep living like this."

Others agreed.

"It's flooded every year since 2007 because the gates on the Pompton are never open enough," said Mark Lang, a Maple Lane resident. "Buy some people out, build levees, do something."

Wayne resident Brian Boonstra drove one of the large rescue trucks into the floodwaters to rescue people. Boonstra purchased the truck a month ago.

"We're just residents who wanted to help people out today," Boonstra's colleague said.