Report: New flood maps to be released on Monday

Middletown Patch is reporting that FEMA will release new flood maps for Atlantic, Hudson, Monmouth and Ocean Counties on Monday, June 17.

As expected, the new ‘preliminary’ maps will result in less homes being located in ‘V’ zones than were so rated in the maps released by FEMA in December following Superstorm Sandy.  V zones are areas along coasts that are subject to inundation by the 1-percent-annual-chance flood event with additional hazards associated with storm-induced waves.

Many of the properties located in V zones in the December flood maps will be in ‘A’ zones in the maps being released next week, according to a statement by U.S. Senator Bob Menendez as quoted by Patch.

A zones are also subject to the 1-percent annual-change flood event (100 year flood) but without the additional hazards from waves.

Homes in A zones will not have to be raised as high and homes in V zones and will have lower flood insurance premiums.

• Tweet

Kudos to the Red Bank and Middletown Patches

Unlike the major local news outlet, Patch seems to be taking its duty to inform the public about its most important civic duty….voting….seriously.

Middletown Patch and Red Bank Patch both published Election Guides last week, listing the Municipal, County, Congressional,  U.S. Senate and Presidential candidates who will be on the general election ballot in November.

The Patch editors only made one error and one categorical omission.   They listed the 12th congressional district as including part of Monmouth County which it no longer does.  New Jersey’s congressional district lines were redrawn in January as a result of the 2010 U.S. Census.  Monmouth County is now divided between the 4th congressional district, represented by Congressman Chris Smith-R and the 6th congressional district, represented by Congressman Frank Pallone.  

The 2012-2021 New Jersey Congressional Map can be found here, courtesy of our friends at Save Jersey.

Patch neglected to report that most New Jersey communities will elect their Board of Education members in November, for the first time this year.

MMM salutes Patch for bringing elections to their readers attention and encourages them to continue to do so.  The error and omission were easy mistakes to make, as both changes are recent and information about them not easy to find if you’re not a regular reader of a publication that focuses on politics and government.

• Tweet