Update: FEMA Assessing Cranbury Damage

This article has been updated with the day FEMA will come.

Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives will visit homeowners where there was severe flooding to assess the damage Wednesday, according to an update from the Township. They will also visit municipal buildings and facilities affected by the flood.

There were after Hurricane Irene.

FEMA teams will canvas homes in areas including Main Street, South Main Street and Ancil Davison Road and ask questions relating to losses from the flood, said Cranbury police Chief Rickey Varga, during a Monday Township Committee meeting.

Committee member David Cook was named deputy mayor Monday with a unanimous 5-0 vote after the committee decided appointing the position could help provide “continued continuity” in the event of a future large-scale event.

All committee members and the mayor agreed that the town was well equipped to handle the recent momentous storm.

Mayor Winthrop Cody acknowledged the public works department, volunteers and emergency responders for the work they did under the circumstances and challenges the hurricane caused. Many committee members remarked that they never saw flooding as bad as they had from the hurricane, and flooding rains that followed.

“This was a historic event and not the norm,” said Dan Mulligan, a Township committee member. “It [the hurricane] was exasperated by a wet month, and I commend public works and police for working with limited resources.”

Committee member Jay Taylor, who also serves as Office of Emergency Management liaison to the police, recounted through his notes a timeline of the preparedness efforts and accomplishments by Public Works Manager Jerry Thorne, Varga and their respective teams. He said that they did a tremendous service to the township.

, and was provided assistance from the County Emergency Response Team, which was available to assist police patrol if necessary.

Township engineer Bill Tanner recommended the spillway, which is a channel-like pipe that allows water to flow from Brainerd Lake to the Millstone Creek to empty the lake in the event of a flood, be increased from 40 feet to 100 feet.

Increasing the spillway would cost $5 million and would be split between the Township and the county.