Homes condemned after flash floods sweep through New Brunswick
PSEG shut off the gas main line on Wednesday. This means families and businesses impacted are not able to return home for the time being.
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Crews in New Brunswick are working to remove water from homes after Tuesday’s rain and major flooding impacted the area.
On Wednesday, PSEG worked to permanently shut off the gas main line. This means families and businesses impacted are not able to return home for the time being.
PSEG cannot turn the gas back on until local inspectors give them clearance to, a PSEG official said. Inspectors will essentially look to make sure anything inside of the home is safe for residents to come back. They'll check to see if anything needs to be replaced, which could be a possibility given the damage.
Impacted families were temporarily relocated to Emmanuel Lutheran Church on Kirkpatrick Street. Officials say seven children and an adult were initially trapped on Drift Street. Three people were also taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital to be treated. They are expected to be OK.
MORE: 3 injured, homes evacuated amid major flooding in New Brunswick
Steve Spisso says it's been a difficult 24 hours of navigating structural damage and flooding inside his home.
“Just trying to help the tenants find a new place to stay, hoping insurance calls me back to get some sort of game plan,” he said.
Spisso says he's hoping the inspector comes out at some point to give guidance as to when he and his tenants can go back in to get the rest of their belongings.
Crews worked through Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning pumping water out onto the streets. The flooding also impacted parking garages and the Middlesex County family courthouse where SERVPRO was dealing with cleanup for hours. They say it's a job that they've dealt with before.
Luiz Neto, a production manager, says the company dealt with this two years ago at the same location and the same building.
Felix Checo, an operations manager, says water will be out Wednesday but the cleaning process is going to take a few days to get this up and running again.
