Half marathon engulfed in controversy after runners were forced to wade through flash floods in New Jersey sparking investigation into organizers

An investigation is underway after runners in New Jersey were caught in a flash flood and were made to run through waist-deep water as torrential rain pounded the Northeast on Sunday.

Bergen County said on Monday that they are reviewing 'all of the circumstances' surrounding the privately organized Racefaster Half Marathon in the town of Paramus over the weekend. The county also put the organizers on probation with the local parks department's permitting office.

Sunday brought heavy rains which caused devastation and severe flooding throughout Northern New Jersey, Westchester County, New York, and Fairfield County, Connecticut where multiple inches of rain fell within an hour.

Runners in the race were seen on videos trudging through waist-deep waters and were shown holding onto railings on an incline in order to avoid being swept away.

Race organizer Racefaster pushed the start time back for two hours, but did not cancel the event. The course was never altered, taking runners along the Saddle River as Paramus ended up getting 4-5 inches of rain.

'People were surprised it was going on. I think a lot of reasonable people walked away and got back in their cars. I think a lot of other reasonable people stopped about halfway through,' runner Theo Puccio told Fox Weather

'And then there were those of us, like myself, that had a really fun time but were worried about the sanitary conditions of the water.'

Puccio posted videos that went viral showing himself and other runners fighting against a rapid current to try and reach the finish line. 

Another runner, Garret Nathan, said (via NBC 4 New York): 'I kept checking my email from the race directors and get no notifications about a cancelling.'

Nathan said when the race time began, 'I'm like "alright, I guess we're just actually doing this thing" because it was such downpour and you couldn't even walk on the grass. It was muddy. It was all flooded out.'

After 'five or six' river crossings where the water was visibly high, Nathan was stunned that no changes were made: 'I was like, "Are they going to like change the routes for us at all?"'

Bergen County officials said that agencies advised Racefaster to use an alternate route to avoid areas at high-risk for flooding. The county says a number of race participants chose to disregard that route and went through the flood waters at their own risk.

Despite the rain, about 250 people were said to have completed the race - including Puccio, who finished fourth overall and first in his age group.

'The last couple miles was pretty competitive there, there was like me and ten other people that were gunning for the first-place trophy,' Puccio said.