UPDATE: This observation was done after the initial torrential runoff which had no barriers – except for a couple of bales of hay – which clearly didn’t work.
In light of this afternoons violent storms (July 22, 2019), a quick trip to Preserve @ Toll Brothers was in order to see if there was any flooding as was seen about a week ago. And just about every other time it rains. On arrival there didn’t seem to be much going on, Carlough Drive wasn’t covered in mud so all seemed in order.
But closer inspection revealed there was a lot of activity with a steady stream of cars turning into the driveway.
An Upper Saddle River Police car was sitting on the access road, with an officer apparently speaking to workers. There were several other cars, a guy in a suit (jacket off – getting down to business?) and a huge earth mover shifting stones or asphalt or something creating little dams, obstacles. What appeared to be tar bumpers were jutting out from the sides.
So what exactly was going on?
At a non-engineering guess it looked clearly that some action was being taken to divert the water from cascading down the sides of the road and move it towards the drain in the middle. Surprise. It looks like an engineering flaw if the ground doesn’t slope in the correct direction funneling the runoff exactly where it should go.
And the problem was that it wasn’t just rain runoff, it was mud.
Again.
With brand new little half foot dams appearing on the access road now the question is are they going to be erected for every storm? With the volume of rain, who knows how long they will remain in tact. Are they permanent? Temporary?
And much more importantly, why wasn’t there something in place before this? This has been going on for 2 years with every rain event.
Where was the town engineer? And why hadn’t the town engineer really overseen and inspected the plans for this road to ensure that no mud runoff would occur. It’s basic stuff for a town engineer. Grading, soil management. Isn’t that what they are paid to do? See that everything is done correctly? That no soil runs off to enter the streams. Yet it does.
Every single rain event this happens somewhere on the Toll Brothers site.
Every single time.
And once again the ordinary residents of the town, the ones being affected were out monitoring, dealing with ongoing situation, reacting with surprise that it still goes on.
Again.
This is New Jersey.
This is summer.
Torrential rain is a way of life.
Which just leaves one question –
Does Toll Brothers have any idea what they are doing?
