I always say there’s always a big storm on or around my birthday. Being it’s September 3rd, it is hurricane season on the New Jersey coast. 2021 was no different.

We had heard the reports of a lot of rain, we knew it was going to be bad, but we didn’t know how bad it was going to be.

5:15pm. September 1st, 2021. The rain starts in Scotch Plains. I put on my UPS issue rain jacket, and it immediately is soaking wet. This coat is soaked through and I’m now soaking wet.

6:30pm. I’m getting done with my route, and I’m checking on the other guys to make sure they are okay. They say they are good and I start to head in. Being the experienced drivers we are, we know Route 22 is flooding out and not to go that way in. We go up Bonnie Burn Road to Valley Road to begin our trek back to the building. And like always, I’m running point. Just before Warrenville, there’s a puddle. Okay, no problem. On the turn out of the major downtown area, another one. But when I got past King George, there was a major puddle which I got through, but by the time Kyle got to us, he had to floor it to get through. Jorge called at some point to figure out how to get in, and I told him to go this way too.

7:30pm. We are rolling into the building and getting organized to go home. Anthony talks to our boss to get drivers to come back in. Everyone starts heading in, but some don’t avoid flood zones and get stuck in high water and flood their trucks out.

8:15pm. Matt, Anthony, Kyle, Jorge, and myself head to the garage. The wind is blowing hard, almost to the point where if my umbrella was pointed in a different direction, it was going to be gone. Matt leaves the garage, and heads to his house via back roads. I attempt to get Anthony home but find out 22 West, from Chimney Rock, is flooded out. I turn us around and drop Anthony back off at the garage, and attempt to go out different ways to get home. I get gas first, and try Route 28, and 287. Both flooded out. I go up Chimney Rock, like Kyle had done not more than 20 minutes prior to me, to find that it too has flooded out. I returned back to the garage and look at Anthony and tell him to get in so we can get food. The Wawa by work was packed by the time we got there for food, cars were everywhere. We quickly ran in after parking in the curb, got food, and as we were leaving, the power went out and the cell service in the area turned off for about 5 minutes.

9:00pm. Matt’s finally stopped at Park Avenue in Scotch Plains, and can’t go any further after finding a high point, which happened to be the Stage House. Matt walked in to ask if it was cool for him to stay, and he wound up helping them throughout the night to clear water out of the building, because the water line was about 2 feet higher at the front door. Matt’s bluetooth finally dies and we loose contact with him.

10:00pm. Anthony’s calling different drivers to see how they are doing because they got stuck in the floods, and were told to leave the trucks because at that point the trucks were not moving because the motor was seized. I’m in my car trying to warm up because I don’t have any clothes to put on except for my wet ones. I had taken out my just in case bag to make room for our annual Pocono Race weekend trip, which had extra clothes, a blanket, and a sleeping bag.

1:00am. I’m getting to be pretty tired, and I’m trying to lay in my car to rest my eyes. But because Anthony is the shop steward and he’s checking on our guys, he’s using my car to charge his phone, which causes people to come to my car and talk, interrupting my sleep. This whole time though we would go out to look at the building from the parking garage, and we wouldn’t see a tractor trailer moving.

2:30am. Dutcher calls me and tells me that the water has receded enough for cars to go through, and that the way home is clear enough now after the DOT cleared the road of all the vehicles that blocked the road. I decide while as tired as I am, to start heading towards home. Howie, who lives north of me, followed me out and stayed about 200yards back in case I ran into trouble, he could bail me out. I get on the phone with Jorge as I start driving. Cars where everywhere, and because it was so dark, you couldn’t tell where they were until you were almost ontop of them. most were on the side of the road, but here and there, there was a car’s tail stuck out in the road.

3:00am. I finally get home. I’m exhausted.

6:30am. I text my boss I’m not going in since I had 3 hours of sleep, since he wasn’t answering his phone.

10:00am. I text one of my buddies that I know went to work. Said they were still in the building loading trucks and that only 20 guys showed up.

8:00am September 3rd. My birthday. I start my trek to work, and see the devastation that the storm did. Flooded out homes, the whole west side of my route in Scotch Plains had been flooded, because the two creeks just came up and me in the middle. Park Middle School had 2 feet of water at the back side of the school. Literal tons of people’s stuff was at the curb.

At the end of the day, I was safe. But it got bad, and bad fast.