NJ to make investment to combat flooding

Blue Acres buyouts lead strategy for 'new reality'

By: Mike Deak
MyCentralJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

LAMBERTVILLE - To stop the "costly merry-go-round" of flooding and rebuilding, Governor Phil Murphy announced measures Tuesday [05/03/2022] to take a more "preemptive" approach to protect New Jersey communities from floods.
..... Saying it's not a mater of if, but when" towns will again be hit by flooding, like the severe floods from the remnants of Hurricane Ida on September 1, [2021] Murphy said the state will invest $50 million form federal relief funds in the Blue Acres program. "Ida was no fluke" the governor said. In the Blue Acres program, the state will buy flood-damaged or flood-prone homes at a market rate, then demolish the home with the land preserved for open space, recreational purpose or undevelopable wetlands.
..... In the wake of Ida, the Blue Acres program, under the auspices of the department of Environmental Protection, is focusing on uninhabitable homes that were either destroyed or severely damaged in the storm.
..... Since it began nine years ago, the program has spent $200 million on buyouts as of February, [2022] the latest data available. The program has made offers on about 1,100 properties in 20 towns across the state, including scores in the Lost Valley section of Manville. In all, about 700 houses have been demolished.
..... The added 450 million in the Blue Acres program is the first phase of Murphy's Ida recovery strategy which will use all available federal Ida disaster money to launch several programs over the coming months.
..... "Too long we have been reactive," Murphy said. "We need to state looking forward."
..... With climate change, the governor said, "we're dealing with a new reality."
..... The governor announced the program in Lamberiville, one of the hardest hit towns in the Ida floods. Damage here was not limited along the Delaware River, but along the ordinarily placid streams running through the city that turned into torrents during the storm.
..... Nick Cepparulo lost his home on Curley Lane when the overflowing and "unrelenting: Swan Creek washed over the foundation of his home and it had to be demolished.
..... "Our main hope is for a buyout,' Cepparulo said.
..... Murphy said Cepparulo, who lives on the same short street between Brunswick Avenue and Quarry Street where his wife's parents also had a house, is a prime candidate for the Blue Acres program.
..... "New Jersey is ground zero for some of the worst impacts of climate change," DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette said.
..... The DEP is also updating its flood hazard regulations for the first time in more than two decades, he said.
..... Since 1999, LaTourette said, precipitation in New Jersey has increased by 2% to 10%.
..... There is "not just one silver bullet" to protect communities, he said, but a "network of solutions."
..... Other measures announced by Murphy were:
* Flood resilience infrastructure: Murphy said the state is working with the Army Corps of engineers to obtain more than $1 billion in federal money for the study design and construction of infrastructure projects in some of New Jersey's most flood-prone watersheds.
* Improving storm-water management: Murphy announced $10 million in state money to encourage municipalities interest in formating a storm-water utility, building green infrastructure, enhancing existing infrastructure, restoring riparian areas.
..... To date, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided more than $247 million in individual aid to 44,866 New Jersey residents impacted by Ida.
..... "No New Jerseyans should have to see their life's work washed away by devastating rain and floodwaters," Murphy said. "As New Jersey continues to experience more extreme weather events, we must become proactive in our approach to protect the communities and businesses that continue to bear the brunt of flooding and damage from those storms."
..... Representative Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., also emphasized the effects of climate change in New Jersey.
..... "500-year-storms are now happening every five to 10 years," he said.
..... "This storm was a wake-up call for climate change, he said. "Climate change is four feet of ware in your basement."

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