NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—Severe flash flooding has been taking place on Joyce Kilmer Avenue following recent rainstorms, raising the ire of residents who are increasingly affected by the floods.

As we reported last August, a bridge over the Mile Run stream had been re-built in 2008, with the intent of improving the flooding situation.

But since then, residents say the flooding has gotten worse as the culvert, or drainage pipe, that runs beneath Joyce Kilmer Avenue has become clogged with garbage, blocking the flow of water and flooding over when there is enough rainfall.

Residents living nearby the affected have complained for years about the problem, but on May 15, Fourth Ward resident Danielle Moore brought her concern to the New Brunswick City Council, claiming, “Whatever they did to Joyce Kilmer in the last procedure they performed… has made the problem worse.”

According to Moore, the flooding has at times backed up all the way to the nearby Foodtown parking lot on Elizabeth Street.  

“It’s affecting a lot of people,” Moore said.

“The problem keeps spreading down the road, just because of that little stream.”

City Engineer Tom Guldin eventually responded, saying that the city has “appropriated some money this year in our capital budget to take out the culverts and eliminate the backups that they cause.”

“We are working with North Brunswick with whom we share a common [drainage] line,” Guldin continued.

“We are looking at diverting some of the flow from the Georges Road area… to try to minimize the volume of water that we’re getting at that point in the system.”