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photo by Boyd Loving
The Ho-Ho-Kus Brook is in major need of dredging, deepening, and cleaning
No question about it: the turf field served to exacerbate the flooding conditions at RHS experienced yesterday. I can recall a graduation ceremony held at RHS in 2001 during which thunderstorms, of about the same severity and intensity as those we saw yesterday, rolled through the area before and during the ceremony. The grass was very wet, but the field did not flood.
Here is what is going wrong: the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook is in major need of dredging, deepening, and cleaning; too, rules governing the construction of structures and fences within the flood plain of the brook need to be enforced. These are a few of the reasons why we are seeing the HHK brook overflow its banks with increasing frequency. And, of course, the turf field: located within the flood plain, it does not absorb the water but rather it collects it. Hence an area of pooled water that is very much in evidence in the photos provided
