Increased Flooding Wreaking Havoc on New Jersey

Governor Murphy has declared a State of Emergency in Monmouth, Ocean, Bergen, Essex, and Passaic Counties due to flooding. Entire communities are underwater in some areas, including the age-restricted community of Greenbriar in Brick. Two main roads in Howell have been closed because of the extreme rain and flooding. The bridge on Allenwood-Lakewood Road in the Ramtown section of the township was under water while a section of the Ramtown-Greenville Road between Arnold Boulevard and Moses Milch Drive collapsed. Many parts of New Jersey experienced major flooding this past few days and over the weekend with areas like Brick and Howell being hit especially hard by storms and rainfall. Beaches have already been closed due to polluted stormwater runoff.

“Our hearts and hands go out to all the people who are being impacted by this devastating flooding. These storms are being worse and more frequency in New Jersey. We’re seeing dangerous conditions over the state with entire streets flooded out and collapsing in places like Howell and Brick and cars washing away. Communities and homes are completely ruined and underwater. Beaches are closed because they become contaminated with polluted stormwater runoff. These conditions are worsening due to climate change but also because of the rollbacks to waterway protections over the last eight years that have allowed more development, and more flooding, in these areas,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “An important way to reduce flooding is to reverse these rollbacks and put in place stronger protections that block unnecessary development. The Murphy Administration must address these issues to prevent future flooding impacts.”

Many parts of North Jersey experienced major flooding this weekend with unnaturally high levels of rainfall reported in in Bergen, Essex and Passaic counties. Many towns are seeing problems with storm drainage from the flooding and entire streets are going underwater. Residents are comparing these floods to the ones experienced under Hurricanes Irene and Floyd. As New Jersey faces a forecast of more rain, we must consider how to protect our waterways and water quality to reverse of the damage done under the Christie Administration.

“This has been one of the rainiest and warmest summers on record. These extreme weather events are happening way too often and with more frequency thanks to climate change. At the same time, we’ve seen increased development in flood-prone areas and rollbacks of important waterway protections under the past eight years of Governor Christie. We need the Murphy Administration to restore stronger protections for floodplains, waterways, and wetlands to reduce flooding. We also need to stop proposed large development in these areas that lead to increased flooding and pollution,” said Jeff Tittel. “Nature brings the rains but man’s policy makes them worse; whether it’s overdevelopment in floodplain areas or exasperating climate change and sea level rise.”

Under the Christie Administration’s CAFRA rules, places like Mystic Island and Manahawkin are targeted as high-density development areas despite going underwater. The weakened Water Quality Management Planning rules allow sewer extensions and high-density development in many coastal and inland flood-prone areas. The Flood Hazard rules have also been weakened to put more people in harm’s way when it comes to flooding while removing key protections for important waterways.

“The DEP’s changes to the CAFRA and Coastal Zone Management rules under Christie adds more loopholes and waivers and weakening coastal protections.  The rules do not strengthen protections, encourage more regional planning, address climate change or sea level rise, and they do not include programs for adaptation or mitigation of sea level rise, resiliency, or natural systems restoration. Under the CAFRA rules, we can turn the coast into an urban area that has higher density than Manhattan Island and build commercial development behind sea walls,” said Jeff Tittel.

Other rule weakenings have put our coastal areas at risk for more flooding and pollution. Their Flood Hazard rules add more development to environmentally sensitive areas, getting rid of stream buffers, and eliminating protections for headwaters. Then in a one-two punch for water quality, the Administration increased sewer hook-ups in the Water Quality Management Planning rules, which will have a major impact to open space and nearby reservoirs and streams throughout the state. This will especially impact the most environmentally sensitive areas of the Highlands and Pinelands that contain the water supply for millions of people.

“The Christie Administration’s pro-development agenda resulted in many important protective measures for our waterways being rolled back. In the Pinelands, we’re fighting against proposed projects from pipelines to housing complexes. A new development project is beginning to take shape in Jackson. The 150-acre project sits on Monmouth Road adjacent to Six Flags Great Adventure and is meant to supplement the amusement park to make the area a tourist location. More development creates more impervious surfaces and destroys floodplains and wetlands. This all contributes to increased flooding and stormwater runoff, further putting communities at risk,” said Jeff Tittel.

Since the Water Quality Management Planning (WQMP) rules have been weakened it has allowed 16,000 environmentally sensitive acres in Ocean County for sewer service, adding close to 500,000 people to an already over-populated coastal county. The weakened Wetlands Rules would also cause more water pollution and floodingwhile putting people and property at risk. Wetlands are critical for the environment; they protect against flooding, improve water quality, recharge aquifers, and provide important habitat. We have lost more than half of our wetlands in the last 200 years and we can’t afford to lose more.

“We also must focus on buying out flood prone properties to remove people from harm’s way. We need money not only to remove people form harm’s way, but to develop floodplains, create flood storage areas, remove structures that make flooding worse, and stop upstream development. Although there is some money going to the Blue Acres Program, without a table source of funding there is not enough money to meet the demand.,” said Jeff Tittel. “We must move New Jersey forward with a holistic approach to dealing with flooding including climate change. This includes restoring stream corridors, limiting impervious cover and reducing greenhouse gasses by preventing fossil fuel projects such as the proposed power plant in the Meadowlands.”

We need to be taking a multi-state approach to tackling sea level rise and climate change. This should include holistic solutions including floodstorage. We need to be reducing greenhouse gasses and protecting our coastal ecosystems with natural features, not building concrete walls that only redirect the flooding problem while causing other issues. When we rebuild we need to not only rebuild more resiliently, we need to use it as a way to fix problems of the past such as implementing green building codes, energy efficiency standards and retrofitting stormwater systems that do not work.

“We continue to see more and more flood events across our state, affecting homes and communities and putting our waterways at risk. After the Christie Administration rolled back 20 years of work on protecting people from flooding, we need the Murphy Administration to work twice as hard to address the issues. We must pull down weakened versions of important water rules including the Flood Hazard Rules, Water Quality Management and Planning Rules, CAFRA, and Wetlands Rules. We must instead place protections on our waterways to prevent development that increases flooding and pollution. As the effects of climate change, including flooding, worsen over the years, we will need to protect New Jersey by protecting our waterways and reversing the damage done by the Christie Administration,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.