Damp Jersey Shore town ponders a fix for 'sunny day' floods

BAY HEAD, N.J. – An elite but often-underwater formation municipality astatine the Jersey Shore is looking for its ain solutions to backmost bay flooding, deciding it can't hold for authorities and national officials to hold connected a fix.

Bay Head is studying options to prevent, oregon astatine slightest reduce, incidents of alleged “sunny day” flooding caused by tides and rising oversea levels, arsenic good arsenic large storm-related floods.

New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers person projected a monolithic $16 cardinal plan to code backmost bay flooding on the shore. That program relies connected inlet gates, barriers built crossed the halfway of immoderate bays, and elevating astir 19,000 homes.

But Bay Head, a wealthy, Republican-led enclave whose determination astatine the northernmost extremity of Barnegat Bay gave the municipality its name, feels it needs to enactment sooner than 2030, the earliest the ambitious task could statesman construction.

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A reasonably unremarkable tempest that passed offshore astatine the extremity of October near Bay Head inundated with what residents called the astir aggravated flooding since Superstorm Sandy successful 2012, erstwhile the borough was devastated. Water remained connected streets successful immoderate places for 5 days successful the caller storm.

“I couldn't get backmost to my house,” said Carol Tassini, 84. “I had to crook astir 3 times. It was the worst I've seen it successful a agelong time.”

Longtime Mayor Bill Curtis said flooding has been portion of surviving successful Bay Head his full life. But caller events person raised the alarm.

“It's astir clip we tried to bash something, due to the fact that it's getting worse,” Curtis said. “We decided capable is enough."

A preliminary program unveiled Tuesday astatine a municipality hallway gathering suggested a premix of abbreviated and semipermanent steps the borough could take. One proposal borrows a connection from the authorities and national plan, installing a flood gross connected Scow Ditch, a constrictive assemblage of h2o that connects Barnegat Bay to the southbound with Twilight Lake to the north.

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The municipality besides is considering gathering an earthen berm astir the edges of the water to support its waters from spilling implicit into neighborhoods during precocious tides oregon atrocious storms. The berm would beryllium covered with plants and trees to signifier the benignant of “living shoreline” that astir environmentalists advocate.

Rick McGoey, a subordinate of Bay Head's biology committee who gave the presentation, said “nuisance flooding” occurs successful municipality betwixt 12 to 18 times a year; large flooding occurs 6 to 7 times a year. But those frequencies are definite to rise, helium added.

The municipality has not enactment a terms tag connected its repair plans, but officials cautioned it volition beryllium significant. Bay Head volition question first-round backing from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a much elaborate study, and the politician said helium envisioned the municipality mightiness beryllium capable to concern immoderate of the work, similar the earthen dam astir the lake, connected its own.

Bay Head, wherever the mean location is worthy much than $1.1 million, is location to immoderate Republican dense hitters, including Lawrence Bathgate II, the erstwhile GOP nationalist concern president nether presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

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Former Gov. Chris Christie has a summertime location here, adjacent 1 owned by Bon Jovi keyboardist and Broadway playwright David Bryan.

The municipality realizes that clime alteration and oversea level emergence are precise existent problems, McGoey said.

“A batch of radical don't judge successful clime change, but conditions astir the satellite are causing it to spell up,” helium told the audience. “Storms are much severe, you're getting stronger winds. All of that is contributing. The important happening is, what are you going to bash astir it?”

McGoey said Bay Head would request to trust connected the $16 cardinal authorities and national program to forestall “catastrophic” flooding similar what occurred during Sandy.

Since Nov. 2016, the Army Corps has been looking astatine ways to trim oregon forestall flooding on backmost bays successful New Jersey and elsewhere. Governments successful Massachusetts, California, Florida and Maine are among those that besides person grappled with the issue.

Such flooding caused large harm connected the East Coast during Sandy, though much attraction was paid to harm from water waves pounding connected the beachfront.

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By contrast, backmost bay flooding is gradual and insidious, creeping up connected areas fronting connected bays oregon places with tributaries that swell with flood h2o and inundate homes and businesses.

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Follow Wayne Parry connected Twitter astatine @WayneParryAC

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