>FLOODING : Not the Fields its the increased rain fall
“There is no doubt that flooding became significantly greater on the HS Fields after all the widening and building that has been done over the past twenty years…The HoHoKus Brook floodplain was already overbuilt before the fields were proposed.”
Suggesting that the new fields (or the field at Maple) have, in any way, made flooding worse, demonstrates a total lack of knowledge of the DEP regulations governing construction in a flood plain or the drainage design of the fields. Before you make ridiculous comments like this you might want to consider whether the flow of the brook has become more restricted in the last 20 years, whether the banks of the brook have deteriorated in the last 20 years or whether we have experienced more precipitation in the last 20 years.
In fact, data maintained by Rutgers (going back to 1895) shows that average precipitation has significantly increased in the past 20 years. When comparing the 2000s to the 1990s, there are are only four months where the average precipitation was similar or declined (January, February, May & August). Even though the average precipitation declined vs. the 1990s in August, it was still well above the long term average of 3.46″.
However, what is alarming is that average monthly rainfall has steadily increased since the 1970s and, particularly, the average precipitation in March, April, June, September, October, November & December has dramatically increased since the 1990s. In many years during the 2000s, the monthly precipitation consistently spiked to 50 – 75% above the long term average. In numerous instances, the precipitation in these months was 100 – 300% greater than the long term average.
If there has been an increase in flooding, it is a direct result of the dramatic increase in precipitation and restricted flow in the brook (due to shifting sand deposits and rubble debris along the brook bottom), NOT alleged “overbuilding” in the flood plain.
