Vehicle pulled from High Crest Lake
WEST MILFORD. No one was injured, and the Passaic County Sheriff’s Office Scuba Unit helped recover the vehicle.
| 20 Dec 2023 | 02:09
First-responders prepare to recover a vehicle that went into High Crest Lake in West Milford on Monday, Dec. 18. (Photo by Adam Apps)
No one was hurt when a vehicle went into High Crest Lake during the rainstorm Monday, Dec. 18.
The Passaic County Sheriff’s Office Scuba Unit recovered the vehicle with help from the West Milford Police Department, Fire Department and Office of Emergency Management (OEM).
The Fire Department responded to 12 calls between 1 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday, officials said. They included utility pole or power line fires, electrical fires in buildings and multiple water emergencies.
Fire Company 5 also provided mutual aid to Vernon for a chimney fire.
About 3.5 inches of rain reportedly fell in West Milford on Sunday, Dec. 17 and Monday.
About 1 p.m. Monday, nearly 360 West Milford customers were without power, according to Jersey Central Power & Light. Four hours earlier, about 1,735 had been without power.
The utility reported an outage affecting an estimated 7,000 customers about 7:30 a.m., according to an OEM alert.
JCP&L crews were onsite to fix the outage, which was caused by a transmission line down outside the Cozy Lake Substation, the alert said.
The National Weather Service (NWS) had issued a flood watch for Passaic County until 5 p.m.
Between 2 and 4 inches of rain had fallen in northern New Jersey, and excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations, the NWS said.
“Creeks and streams may rise out of their banks. Flooding may occur in poor drainage and urban areas.”
Rising rivers
A river flood warning was in effect until early Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 20 for the Pequannock River below Macopin Dam in West Milford. As of 4:25 a.m. Monday, the river was at 5.7 feet.
At 5.5 feet, road closures begin in Butler and Bloomingdale because of flooding. At 6.5 feet, Main Streets in both towns flood.
River flood warnings also were issued for the Ramapo River at Pompton Lakes, the Pompton River at Pompton Plains, and the Passaic River at Little Falls and Pine Brook.
About 6:30 a.m. Monday, the West Milford OEM warned that many roadways have debris and standing water because of the overnight storm. “Motorists should expect longer travel times and use caution.”
Cahill Cross Road was closed between Ridge Road and Macopin.
Fire Companies 3, 4 and 6 reported finding several flooded areas and trees down on their way to help fight a structure fire on Buena Vista Drive in Ringwood about 1:45 a.m.
The fire was quickly brought under control by the Ringwood Fire Department, officials said.
On Tuesday evening, Dec. 19, an OEM alert warned drivers about the dangers of “flash freezing,” when wet roads become icy because of dropping temperatures.