The snow has finally stopped, and New Jerseyans are left to deal with flooding and any lingering impacts the snow could have on their Monday morning commutes. The blizzard of 2016 dropped more than two feet of snow on many parts of New Jersey, but the flakes should stop falling by sunrise. Coastal flooding remains a… Read the rest of this entry »
The blizzard that pounded the Jersey Shore for more than 24 hours on Saturday, brought additional moderate flooding, strong winds winds and yes, even more snow, to coastal Monmouth County during the storm’s second high tide cycle. In Sea Bright, large chunks of snow and ice floated down Ocean Avenue during high tide, as police, state… Read the rest of this entry »
How vulnerable is New Jersey to flooding caused by rising sea levels and climate change? Very vulnerable, according to a new tool developed by Climate Central, a Princeton-based nonprofit that researches the effects of climate change. A year after Sandy…Flooding is a serious problem in Highlands.
Highlands resident Derek Gordon street kayaking after this afternoon's storm. Photo credit: Brian Cobb
The center of town, which is both residential and business, is at a lower elevation than the shore line. During a storm, water comes from the Sandy Hook Bay/Shrewsbury River and storm water comes rushing down to the below sea level downtown from “the hill,” the highest elevation on the east coast of the United States which includes parts of Highlands and the Monmouth Hills section of Middletown. During a big storm at high tide and a full moon, downtown Highlands looks like Venice without the charm and romance.
Councilman Chris Francy convinced the rest of the governing body to have T&M Associates, the borough’s engineers, design a flood mitigation system that includes new pumps and pipes to get the water out of town and back into the bay/river. The project is said to be “shovel ready” and will cost roughly $4 million dollars. The governing body is applying to FEMA to cover $2.2 million of the cost. Congressman Frank Pallone is on board to advocate for the project with FEMA. At a town hall meeting on Monday night, Francy, Pallone and Mayor Frank Nolan said that Highlands is currently number three on FEMA’s list of such projects in New Jersey but that only two will be approved. Pallone is working to get Highlands bumped up on the list and secure the funding. That might be good for Highlands and bad for a community along the Passaic River.
The governing body is set to vote on a resolution tonight that will put the project on the ballot in November as a non-binding referendum. The referendum would ask the voters consent to fund the entire project without FEMA money.
There’s two problems with this scenario.
Posted: August 15th, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Army Corp of Engineers, Chris Francy, FEMA, Flooding, Frank Pallone, Highlands | Tags: Anna Little, Army Corp of Engineers, Chris Francy, FEMA, Flooding, Frank Nolan, Frank Pallone, Highlands, T and M Associates | 12 Comments »© Copyright 2024 | MoreMonmouthMusings | All Rights Reserved