onslaught of rain to the northeast, resulting in historic levels of flooding throughout the region. Among the communities effected were many in Essex County, including Cedar Grove, where the Peckman River overflowed its banks while basements around town filled up with groundwater. Yet now, residents in some of the highest taxed zip codes in the nation are finding out that after decades of sending money to Washington DC, no help is coming this time around.
FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, excluded Essex County from the list of counties receiving federal aid Monday, despite widespread destruction from the flooding in that area. Bergen, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Passaic, and Somerset counties will all receive recovery funding. The decision is especially frustrating for some residents who have noted that their neighbors less than a quarter mile away on Cedar Grove Road in Little Falls are all eligible for those funds as residents of Passaic County. This decision by FEMA has created a situation where taxpayers in Essex County are funding repairs in neighboring communities, despite being flood victims themselves.
In 2020, a report by the New York State Comptroller's Office revealed that New Jersey, a largely coastal region and home to nearly 9-million people, receives the least federal funds out of all 50 states. For every dollar that New Jerseyans send to Washington in taxes, a mere 79 cents is received back, a loss of $2,792 per person.
In hard hit Essex County towns like Cedar Grove, where many residents along the Peckman River are still cleaning up from the flood, the news that residents are on their own is a bitter pill to swallow. To some, it's just one more hit in a Summer where suburban families have already been squeezed by Covid restrictions, employment issues, out of control gas prices, and natural disasters.
For now, local leaders have told residents to remain optimistic and to fill out FEMA claims regardless in the hopes that Essex County's left-behind communities can get the organization to show some mercy and provide relief funds. Meanwhile, in Cedar Grove, the flood-affected clean-out, do their best to clean-up, and keep an eye on the river as even more flooding is already forecast for September 8th and 9th.
