Flood mitigation projects continue in Hoboken to prevent city from flooding

Heavy rainstorms moved through New Jersey on Tuesday, which meant there was the potential for flooding in Hoboken.
Hoboken is no stranger to flooding conditions, and the city continues to invest in projects to mitigate those flooding issues.
“There’s no silver bullet for solving flooding in Hoboken,” says Mayor Ravi Bhalla. “So, you’ve got to be innovative and use every tool at your disposal.”
For Hoboken, those tools include the sidewalks and streets and what is underneath them.
“We’re looking at every block, every street corner, every intersection – and see how we can reduce flooding,” Bhalla says.
At the intersection of Fourth and Garden streets is one of four rain garden curb extensions, which was installed in just the last few weeks. The gardens absorb rainwater into underground tanks. The four new gardens can store about 7,000 gallons of water.
The city also now has proof that its wet-weather pump stations are working. According to new performance statistics from the North Hudson Sewage Authority – a partner in that project – the two pumps have prevented street flooding during 141 of 160 flood events or 88%.
The NHSA says that the H1 Station has pumped 1.06 billion gallons of water out of the city since its construction in 2011. The H5 Station has kept 292 million gallons of water off the street since 2016.
There are also resiliency parks with large underground detention tanks, which are expected to hold 1 million gallons of rainwater. One was being installed on Tuesday in the new Northwest Park.
“We’re doing everything we can to combat the impact of climate change and all these measures – green infrastructure, underground water retention tanks, rain gardens - are all part of a holistic process to make our communities strong,” says the mayor.
The rain garden stormwater detention tanks were installed as part of the city’s project to replace 15 blocks of water mains in Hoboken.
The new rain garden curb extensions are also meant to help with pedestrian safety by creating a further gap between the crosswalk and parked cars to increase drivers’ visibility at intersections.