Canoe Brook is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the

Passaic River Passaic River ( ) is a river, approximately long, in Northern New Jersey. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey, ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. It runs behind several municipal buildings in

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

such as the police station and town hall. Its average depth is about 6 inches (15.2 cm) deep, but its water level can rise to well more than a foot (30.5 cm) during heavy rains. In the early 1980s a flood claimed the lives of three kids rafting in a flood. The flood waters went nearly to the bridge on Northfield, completely over the bridge at East Hobart Gap and finally went across East Hobart Gap Road by Burnett Street, where it flooded a home. The home was torn down shortly thereafter. In the mid 1980s the brook was reconstructed of concrete and stone from the Swan Street area to East Hobart Gap Road. During

Hurricane Floyd Hurricane Floyd was a very powerful Cape Verde hurricane which struck the Bahamas and the East Coast of the United States. It was the sixth named storm, fourth hurricane, and third major hurricane in the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season. Floyd tr ...

in 1999, the river overflowed its banks, well over three meters in some places, as the volume of water was too great to pass through the culverts under the residential bridges, flowed over them and through nearby homes as well. The brook is also a historic waterway as a sawmill alongside the brook near what is now Northfield Avenue. It was used as an early power source by the town's early settlers in the 19th century. Also, one of the oldest buildings in Livingston, the Force Hill homestead, lies only a short distance upstream.

See also