(04/17/07) POMPTON LAKES ? Although most of their homes are flooded, municipal employees are still reporting to work to keep Pompton Lakes services running.

Workers at the wastewater treatment plant took a backhoe through flooded streets to work Tuesday. Driver Chuck DeVore says the transportation improvisation was necessary to keep the plant going. He?s spent the morning ferrying workers through flooded roadways so they could get to work.

?There?s no other way,? said DeVore. ?We have to take care of the plant, make sure everything?s running right. Do the best we can.?

Although the backhoe is a large machine, DeVore said driving through flooded streets is still a scary experience. ?When we go through the intersection, it?s so deep, the machine feels like it wants to float,? said DeVore.

Some workers can only look at their houses from afar and wonder how much damage they?ll go back to. A few families are staying at St. Mary?s Church, which has been set up as an evacuation center.

Officials say water should recede enough by late Tuesday night to allow some residents to return to their homes.

Related information: News 12 New Jersey Weather Nor'easter forces Pompton Lakes residents to bail out