After three Republican legislators called this morning for an independent investigation into flooding in Bound Brook during Hurricane Ida, Gov. Phil Murphy said that while he has not yet seen the request for an investigation, he supports looking into the matter further.
“We obviously want to make sure we know exactly what happened,” Murphy said today at his twice-a-week Covid press briefing. “I spoke to the mayor, who’s a really good guy, right after it happened. I know he wants to get to the bottom of it.”
When Ida struck several weeks ago, a New Jersey Transit train became stuck near Bound Brook and prevented floodgates from closing, leading to devastation in the Somerset County borough.
State Sen. Michael Doherty (R-Oxford), Assemblyman Erik Peterson (R-Franklin), and Assemblyman John DiMaio (R-Hackettstown), all of whom represent Bound Brook in the legislature’s 23rd district, said in their call for an investigation that NJ Transit may “bear some legal liability for the flood damage” Bound Brook suffered.
Murphy, perhaps recognizing the potential lawsuit NJ Transit may face, assured that the rapid transit system is working to find out what went wrong during Ida.
“I can say on behalf of NJ Transit that we’ll do everything we can to learn and figure out what happened,” he said.