Hurricane Irene in Smoke Rise: Photos

Hurricane Irene left us with 11" of rain from late Saturday the 27th to early Sunday the 28th. That's my unofficial tally for the amount of rainfall in Smoke Rise as per my 2 ft deep, 5 ft across Tree Tub. 11 Inches of Rain!!! Wow.

The three of us decided to document the aftermath of Hurricane Irene in Smoke Rise this afternoon. Several of our roads were shut down - including the East Gate Exit Road and Forge Road, so we explored on foot.

Stream below Orchard Road spillway seen from Eastgate Rd

These views had us speechless. Walking along East Gate Exit Road the water spilled over its bank and headed crosscountry to meet up with the stream again several hundred yards down from the main channel. More water was moving outside of the watercourse than in it.

Same as above including view of spillway/waterfall

Forge Pond Road disconnect, approx 25' across

According to bystanders the stream overflowed Forge Road early Sunday morning and undercut the roadbed, tunneling through outside the reinforced concrete pipe.

Driveway off of East Gate Rd

Driveway off of Brookvale Rd

Driveway across the street from house above

To put several of the photos above into perspective, below is a view of the East Gate exit road from above the waterfall bridge located on Orchard Road. You can just see East Gate road in the distance. All of this was under water.

East Gate Exit Road in the distance
from the top of the Orchard Rd Bridge,
at an earlier and calmer  time

Christine took our photos and created a presentation video of the photos we took walking around Smoke Rise. It is 2:37 minutes long with no sound, but gives you a good idea of what we encountered.

[Subscribers, click on this link to view the Hurricane Irene Aftermath in Smoke Rise, Kinnelon NJ on YouTube.]
 

 How did you weather Hurricane Irene? Do send us your photos with description and location and we'll upload them for all to see!

Added 8/29/11: yesterday's report of road closings and river statuses in North Jersey.
Kinnelon Road is shut down indefinitely at Rickabear #385 because the road collapsed.
Here's a photo of the River going over its banks in Butler.

Added 8/30/11: photo of I287 road collapse just south of exit 44. Hat tip to Steve Woodruff. And, from Patch, photos of the bridge collapse on Kinnelon Road by Rickabear.

& Ted