Hazlet families begin recovering from torrential rain and flooding
The Mandola family home sits at the end of Glen Avenue in Hazlet. Homeowner Mike Mandola says he was forced to evacuate his wife and four children when the water started to fill his living room.
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The sun may be shining overhead this Friday afternoon, but there are families who are cleaning up and starting home renovations following Thursday's torrential rains and flooding.
The Mandola family home sits at the end of Glen Avenue in Hazlet. Homeowner Mike Mandola says he was forced to evacuate his wife and four children under the age of five when the water started to fill his living room. Mandola says the first-floor flooring will need to be ripped up, and the walls and insulation replaced.
He says year after year his property gets pounded by flooding because there just isn’t enough drainage to support all the development in Hazlet. He says there’s a commercial plaza behind his home which also sends run-off from their roofs his way.
“Couldn’t get out of the house. Had to pass the kids through the windows to evacuate. At one point you could’ve went jet skiing around here. There was about four feet of water to three feet, to two feet on the door. I’ve been through this five or six times already," said Mandola.
This area of Monmouth County took on about four inches of water on Thursday.
Mandola has reached out to the township for help with creating more drainage.
He’s been told that would be the responsibility of the state of New Jersey and specifically the Department of Environmental Protection.
News 12 New Jersey has reached out to Hazlet Township for a comment.
