Full Notification

Today the City of Hoboken received the most intense rainfall in more than two years, with over 3 inches of rain per hour falling at the height of the storm, right before high tide. Because several parts of Hoboken are only a few feet above sea level, intense rain at high tide causes flooding in low-lying areas. Today’s rainfall caused regional flooding, including in neighboring cities and state highways that are well above sea level. Although Hoboken experienced rainfall flooding, the flood waters receded immediately after the storm because of two wet weather pumps and rainwater storage at Southwest Park. Both wet weather pump stations were online and pumping effectively. Installed by NHSA in partnership with the City, they pump up to 164 million gallons of rainwater out to the Hudson River during heavy rains. This was the most intense rain event since the second wet weather pump was installed in 2016, and it worked properly. Southwest Park stores approximately 200,000 gallons of rainwater. The rainwater storage tank under the park filled up today, and is now emptying out before the next intense rain event. Without the wet weather pumps and rainwater storage at Southwest Park, Hoboken could have experienced significantly worse flooding conditions, which could have lasted much longer. The City continues to increase rainwater storage capacity by building resiliency parks. A public park will be opening soon at 7th and Jackson which will store up to 470,000 gallons of rainwater. The Northwest Resiliency Park will store up to 2 million gallons of rainwater. Hoboken residents are reminded that the National Weather Service flash flood watch remains in effect through Sunday morning. City and NHSA personnel worked throughout the day to clean formerly flooded roadways, and will continue to do so tomorrow. Thank you for your cooperation and patience as the City and other involved stakeholders are working hard to mitigate further flooding.