Gallery • 4 Photos

Jonathan Barreto

Many households experienced flooding of their basements, bathrooms, and even the first floor. Above is a picture of Jonathan Barreto’s bathroom after the flooding.

Hurricane Ida hit New Jersey on Sept. 1, 2021, which resulted in multiple floods in different counties throughout the state. Middlesex, Essex, Passaic and Somerset County were some of the hard-hit areas in New Jersey. The hurricane left houses flooded and people cleaning up the mess for days afterward. NJ.com reported a total of 27 that died from the hurricane’s wrath.

In an interview with Jonathan Barreto, a resident of Woodbridge Township, he describes his experience with Hurricane Ida and the floods. “It was scary,” Barreto stated. “There was sewer water plummeting out of the shower. Half of my basement was flooded. It stunk really badly. The water was brown. We lost power for an hour.”

Barreto also described the aftermath of the flooding. “The sewer water stopped coming out of the shower after two hours, and it took about a day for everything to be clean and smell back to normal.”

Many Woodbridge residents were forced to throw out some of their belongings due to flood and sewage water contamination. As of Oct. 6, the flood’s aftermath still remains.