Hurricane Ida Class Action Alleges Somerset County, NJ ‘Recklessly’ Failed to Close Floodgates Before, During Storm

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Bound Brook, New Jersey residents and businesses have filed a proposed class action lawsuit in which they allege Somerset County and its public works department “acted recklessly” by failing to close floodgates prior to and during anticipated flooding brought on by Hurricane Ida in early September 2021. 

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The 24-page lawsuit also names as a defendant New Jersey Transit, who the case says “recklessly” dispatched a train during the storm, causing it to become stuck between the floodgates that protect Bound Brook. 

The plaintiffs, whose properties and businesses were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Ida flooding, claim that the collective misconduct of New Jersey Transit and Somerset County caused floodwaters to surge into the southwest corner of Bound Brook, the southern portion of which is a low-lying natural flood plain along the Raritan River.

“The flooding was the foreseeable and preventable consequence of Defendants’ reckless and careless actions and omissions,” the filing scathes. 

According to the complaint, two major flood events in the 1970s that caused millions in property damage and several deaths in and around Bound Brook sparked the creation of the Green Brook Flood Control Project. After languishing for years due to a lack of funding, the project gained steam in the wake of Hurricane Floyd in 1999, after which the Army Corps of Engineers built two levees along the eastern and western borders of Bound Brook, a project that was completed in 2016, the suit says. 

Per the case, Somerset County and its public works department are responsible for operating the flood control system, including the Segment R2 NJ Transit Closure Gate, through which runs NJT’s Raritan Valley line. Operations procedures dictate that Somerset County Public Works must close the NJ Transit Closure gate based on surface water levels—and notify NJT before doing so to ensure trains are no longer dispatched along the Raritan Valley line, the lawsuit explains. 

“The Army Corps of Engineers estimated that the flood control system would provide protection up to a ‘150-year event,’ defined as an event that has less than 1 percent chance of occurring in a given year,” the suit reads. “But the Army Corps of Engineers failed to consider the kind of gross incompetence that causes a train to get stuck between floodgates.” 

Even though the Middle Brook running through Bound Brook had exceeded its 11-foot flood stage by 8:45 PM on September 1, 2021, NJ Transit dispatched Train 5451 from Newark Penn Station to Bound Brook, “knowingly” sending the train into an active flood zone, the suit shares. In attempting to cross the Middle Brook, the train became disabled in flood waters and debris, causing its first two cars to block the NJ Transit Closure Gate and allowing water to surge into Bound Brook, the case says. 

The lawsuit looks to cover all persons and entities whose property or business in Bound Brook, New Jersey was damaged by the flood event that began on September 1, 2021. 

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