Stormwater Matters

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Links to our project’s reporting. You can click on the journalist’s name to learn more about where that journalist works, and click on the link to read the story in full.

Combined sewer overflows (CSO) designed to collect both stormwater and sewage, lead into the Passaic River in Newark. (Photo by Thomas Franklin)

Broken river bank supports like these can be seen all along the Passaic River in Newark. (Photo by Thomas Franklin)

A dead bird floats in the Passaic River near Newark Bay. (Photo by Thomas Franklin)

The Newark Riverfront Park along the Passaic river in the Ironbound section. (Photo by Thomas Franklin)

A cyclist rides on the boardwalk in the Newark Riverfront Park along the Passaic river in the Ironbound section. (Photo by Thomas Franklin)

A cyclist rides past two people talking on the boardwalk in the Newark Riverfront Park with the Red Bull Arena seen across he Passaic River in the Ironbound section. (Photo by Thomas Franklin)

Longtime Ironbound resident John Goldstein says his neighborhood often times gets flooded during heavy rain, and is opposed to overdevelopment in the neighborhood. (Photo by Thomas Franklin)

Longtime Ironbound resident Tanisha Garner says her neighborhood often times gets flooded during heavy rain, and is opposed to overdevelopment in the neighborhood. (Photo by Thomas Franklin)

The iconic Pulaski Skyway, which crosses over both the Passaic and the Hackensack rivers near Newark Bay.(Photo by Thomas Franklin)

* BEFORE & AFTER PHOTOS * On left is a photograph taken by Mark Bonamo of flooded on Malvern Street near Adams Street in Newark’s Ironbound neighborhood during hurricane Ida in September 2021. The photo on the right was taken by Thomas E Franklin of the same street scene in September 2024. (Photos by Thomas Franklin)

Newark Flooding Project

Photo and captions by Thomas E. Franklin

A boat makes its way underneath one of the bridges over the Hackensack River, near the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers and Newark Bay. (Photo by Thomas Franklin)

Local Ironbound business owner Manny Lopes says the sidewalk outside his hardware store on Ferry Street often times gets flooded during heavy rain. (Photo by Thomas Franklin)

Longtime Ironbound resident Tanisha Garner says her neighborhood often times gets flooded during heavy rain, and is opposed to overdevelopment in the neighborhood. (Photo by Thomas Franklin)

Captain Bill Sheehan, the Hackensack Riverkeeper, operates a pontoon boat tour along the Passaic River, near the confluence of the Hackensack River and Newark Bay. (Photo by Thomas Franklin)

A gull flies along the riverbanks of the Hackensack river, near the confluence of the Hackensack and Passaic rivers near Newark Bay. (Photo by Thomas Franklin)

A bird sits perched atop one of the towers in Newark Bay. (Photo by Thomas Franklin)

Port Newark can be seen through the span of bridges in Newark Bay. (Photo by Thomas Franklin)

A formation of birds flies over the Passaic Valley Water Commission tanks in Newark Bay (Photo by Thomas Franklin)

A span of the New Jersey Turnpike over the Passaic River, near the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in Newark Bay, seen from the Passaic River. (Photo by Thomas Franklin)

The City of Newark Skyline, seen from the Passaic River. (Photo by Thomas Franklin)