NJ towns are reckoning with carnage from second deadly flash floods in 10 days

A burned-out car. Flooded homes. Downed power lines and tree branches.

Residents of Somerset County are recovering from yet another deadly flash flood in the past 10 days. In Plainfield, where two women died after their car was swept into the Cedar Brook, authorities said the city’s emergency response team is exploring new procedures on how authorities can improve response to these extreme weather incidents, including an emergency warning system for residents.

In North Plainfield, the carcass of a burnt-out Mercedes-Benz sedan sat abandoned Tuesday morning in the middle of the road on Green Brook Avenue.

Residents reported that the road became overwhelmed with floodwaters flowing down from the nearby Watchung Mountains.

The driver of the Mercedes tried to forge through the rising waters until her car started to emit smoke. She was able to get out and seek shelter in a nearby house.

The car burst into flames, according to neighbors. The woman was not hurt.

Monday night’s flash floods were the second wave of carnage to hit the area since the Fourth of July holiday. The storms that hit the area then killed three people in their cars. Tens of thousands of residents lost power.

“When you're dealing with things like massive amounts of water, there is not much that you can do in that moment because the water is powerful,” Jazz Hunt, chief of staff for Plainfield Mayor Adrian O. Mapp, told Gothamist. She said the city uses emergency alerts to warn residents, but that it is now looking into a warning system that is “more urgent.”

On Monday night, Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency for all 21 counties in the state as torrential rain fell. State officials closed the portion of Route 22 that runs parallel to Green Brook Avenue in North Plainfield at the base of the Watchung Mountains in Somerset County.

Kayla Barren of North Plainfield said her family helped the driver of the Mercedes and let her stay in their home across the street from where her car caught on fire.

“Everything just happened so fast. So that car started smoking, and the woman driving it got out. The water was pretty deep, about knee high. She walked out. She came up and my parents invited her in,” Barren said.

She said the woman told her family she had just two payments left on the car before it was paid off.

Barren herself lost a car in Monday’s floods. She said that as she was driving home from work, she was only able to make it to the entrance of the church across the street from her home before abandoning her 2024 Hyundai Elantra. She said she waded through knee-high water to get home.

“ It was up to my windshield and I was just pushing through, trying to drive through. And when I got out of the car, my car was just like jerking and the engine just turned off,” she said.

Somerset County Commissioner Shanel Robinson told Gothamist she’s been in constant contact with the state Department of Transportation and other agencies to assist in the cleanup and urged residents to stay vigilant as storms seem to hit their area more frequently.

“It’s out of our control. Nature is nature. And all we can do is work collaboratively in making sure that our residents continue to be safe,” Robinson said.