Flooding in Clifton, New Jersey: the record, the rivers, and what to do
Clifton is the second-largest city in Passaic County, yet most of its flood problems come from small brooks and culverts rather than the Passaic River. Ida, a cloudburst rather than a river flood, tops its claim record.
FEMA counts 164 National Flood Insurance Program claims in Clifton, with the remnants of Ida in 2021 the single largest event, and lists 13 repetitive-loss properties. FEMA's Flood Insurance Study names six local watercourses, led by the Third River and Weasel Brook, and blames inadequate culverts and stream encroachment as much as the streams themselves. The Passaic River runs past the city at Dundee Dam, where the National Weather Service keeps a forecast gauge.
The short version
- FEMA records 164 National Flood Insurance Program claims in Clifton; Ida caused 40, more than any other event.
- FEMA lists 13 repetitive-loss properties in the city, 2 of them severe repetitive-loss, as of 2 August 2026.
- FEMA's flood study names six local watercourses, including the Third River and Weasel Brook, and cites inadequate culverts.
- Backwater from the Passaic River extends up the Third River, according to FEMA.
- The NWS gauge at Dundee Dam has a major flood stage of 7 feet; Irene reached 5.9 feet and the 1903 record is 8.4 feet.
The claim record: a rainfall city
FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program claims data for Passaic County records 164 lifetime flood claims in Clifton. By named event, FEMA attributes 40 to the remnants of Ida, 25 to Hurricane Irene, 16 to Hurricane Floyd and 1 to Hurricane Sandy. By year of loss, 2021 leads with 40 claims, ahead of 2011 with 27. That ordering is unusual in Passaic County, where Irene tops the record in most towns. It points to the kind of flooding Clifton gets: short, intense rain overwhelming brooks, pipes and culverts, more than slow river floods. FEMA's multiple-loss records, as of 2 August 2026, class 13 Clifton properties as repetitive-loss, 2 of them severe repetitive-loss. Spread over the 34,611 homes the US Census Bureau counts in the city, the claim total is low, but the losses cluster along a few watercourses, and the housing is old, with a median year built of 1951.
Six watercourses and a lot of pipe
FEMA's Flood Insurance Study for Passaic County lists the Third River, Wabash Brook, Plog Brook, Weasel Brook, Weasel Brook Branch and Branch 3-5-2 of Weasel Brook as flood sources in Clifton, and says that stream encroachment, inadequate culverts and low-lying ground all contribute during heavy rain. The Third River causes flooding from the city limits to US Route 46 in the western section of the city, and the study adds that backwater from the Passaic River extends a long way up the Third River, so a high Passaic can make it worse. Weasel Brook and Weasel Brook Branch flood the low-lying area just upstream of the Conrail line. The study also records what has been built: a diked ponding area on Weasel Brook upstream of Conrail, drawn from a 1947 city flood alleviation plan for Weasel, Wabash and MacDonald Brooks; a rebuilt Broad Street Bridge over the Third River, which reduced flooding; and pipes carrying much of Plog Brook, supplemented by a second system sized for the 1 per cent annual chance flood.
Weasel Brook, Clifton Avenue and Ida
The most recent account of a specific Clifton problem comes from NorthJersey.com, used here as a local news backup. In March 2024 it reported that Weasel Brook causes flooding on Clifton Avenue near the railroad underpass and the James Anzaldi Recreation Complex, that a section of the corrugated steel pipe carrying the brook under Clifton Avenue and a train trestle partly collapsed in 2020, and that the city had contracted to replace it and planned a retention pond in a wooded area behind the Cambridge Apartments. The paper said Ida dropped almost five inches of rain in a few hours, and the city manager told it the storm made some of the flooding worse and that the brook is not the only cause. Ida's toll reached Clifton residents beyond the city line too: CBS New York reported that the man who drowned in his car in neighbouring Passaic during the storm was from Clifton.
The Passaic River at Dundee Dam
The Passaic River passes Clifton at Dundee Dam, and the US Geological Survey gauge there is named the Passaic River at Dundee Dam at Clifton, with a drainage area of 805 square miles. The US Environmental Protection Agency describes the river below Dundee Dam as tidal all the way to Newark Bay. The National Weather Service sets minor flood stage at the gauge at 4.5 feet, moderate at 6 and major at 7. Its record crest is 8.4 feet in October 1903; Irene reached 5.9 feet on 30 August 2011. The NWS impact statements for the gauge describe flooding in Garfield, Elmwood Park and Paterson, on the far bank and upstream, and do not name Clifton streets. For Clifton the river matters mainly through the backwater it pushes up the Third River.
Owners, landlords and tenants
The US Census Bureau estimates that 40.4 per cent of Clifton households rent. For owners, flood insurance is a separate policy from homeowners insurance, and FEMA applies a 30-day wait before a new one takes effect. Drain backup in a cloudburst can be a different claim from brook flooding; whether either is covered is decided by the insurer. For renters, FEMA states that a landlord's flood policy covers the building, not the tenant's belongings, and tenants can buy a contents-only policy through the National Flood Insurance Program, with only limited cover for contents in a basement apartment. New Jersey law, P.L.2023, c.93, requires landlords of buildings with more than two units, or more than three if owner-occupied, to give a written Flood Risk Notice before a lease is signed or renewed, including whether the property has flooded before.
What this means if you own or rent here
In Clifton the useful question is not how close you are to the Passaic, but how close you are to the Third River, Weasel Brook or one of the piped streams, and how low your street sits. Look the address up on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center, and if you are near one of the watercourses named above, treat a flash flood warning as the signal to act rather than waiting for a river forecast. Keep valuables off the basement floor, never drive into moving water or a flooded underpass, and treat a flooded basement as an electrical hazard until the power is off. If you rent, ask your landlord for the state Flood Risk Notice, and consider a contents policy well before storm season.
Common questions
Why does Clifton flood when the Passaic River is not high?
FEMA's flood study attributes much of Clifton's flooding to local watercourses such as the Third River and Weasel Brook, made worse by inadequate culverts, stream encroachment and low ground. That is why Ida, an intense rainstorm, produced more Clifton flood claims than Irene, according to FEMA claims data.
Where does Weasel Brook flood in Clifton?
FEMA records flooding from Weasel Brook and Weasel Brook Branch in the low-lying area just upstream of the Conrail line. Local reporting in 2024 also described flooding on Clifton Avenue near the railroad underpass, where part of the pipe carrying the brook collapsed in 2020.
Is my Clifton address in a flood zone?
Check it on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center at msc.fema.gov. Flooding from piped brooks and overwhelmed drains can also affect streets outside the mapped flood zone.
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