Homes in Dunellen marked uninhabitable as residents continue cleanup after Ida

A neighborhood in Dunellen that Ida hit hard is still cleaning up from last week's flooding.

News 12 Staff

Sep 6, 2021, 9:24 PM

Updated 1,232 days ago

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A neighborhood in Dunellen that Ida hit hard is still cleaning up from last week's flooding.
Chunks of foundation have washed out from under a home where the flood damage was so severe that the residence is now uninhabitable, leaving Cesar Garcia and his family without a place to live.
"It's still sad... This is the only place that I have. So, me and my kids we don't have no place to go," Garcia says.
Garcia's home is among at least five in Dunellen that was tagged as uninhabitable and is, according to officials, among more than two dozen with significant damage from last week's flooding.
Donna Fabrizzio, who sustained severe damages to the first floor of her home, says she has lived in this community more than 35 years and has seen flooding only get worse.
Dunellen Mayor Jason Cilento hopes a federal flood control project can make a difference for future storms.
"We're hoping within the next five years that we see some of the levees and the floodgates that we saw, and walls, in Bound Brook and going into Middlesex will make its way into Dunellen," Cilento says.