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Mitigation Makes for Success: A Tale of Three Businesses

EATONTOWN, N.J. — Anyone who owns a business along the New Jersey shore is aware of the role the weather plays in its success or failure. A rainy summer can wreak havoc with the cash register — people don’t come to the beach, visit the boardwalk or stop in at shore restaurants when the weather is bad.

And when a storm like Hurricane Sandy threatens the coastline, owners of coastal businesses batten down the hatches and hope that the preparations they’ve made will keep their property secure.

But there’s a lot more you can do to protect your business than simply covering up windows with plywood and storing outdoor furniture inside.

There are many building and mitigation techniques for coastal properties that make it possible for businesses in vulnerable locations to withstand even a storm as strong as Sandy.

In the wake of that historic hurricane, many owners of hard-hit properties have taken steps to build back stronger. Should the shore be hit by another storm, their businesses will be far more likely to survive with little or no damage.

This has been a quiet year for hurricanes in the mid-Atlantic region, but one thing residents of coastal communities know is that sooner or later, another bad storm will head this way.

Protecting your property means making an investment in your future.

As the stories of these three Jersey Shore businesses illustrate, taking action well before a storm is predicted can make all the difference.

Windansea Restaurant, Highlands, NJ

A view of the outside seating area and dock of the Windansea Restaurant Windansea Restaurant Sustained Little Damage from SandyOne month after Superstorm Sandy, Dan Shields and his business partner, Robert Higgins, were thanking their lucky stars. Their waterfront restaurant, Windansea in Highlands, had withstood the raging floods and winds of Superstorm Sandy with relatively minor damage.

The rest of Highlands was not so fortunate. Flood waters inundated dozens of homes and businesses around town. The damage was so extensive that authorities restricted access to the town for several days in order to clear debris and restore public safety. Many of Shields’ and Higgins’ fellow restaurateurs in Highlands were essentially out of business, their kitchens and dining rooms now sodden piles of wreckage.

What saved Windansea?

The partners are quick to credit the borough’s new building code that required properties like their bayside restaurant, which lies in a ‘V’ flood zone, to comply with tough new Federal Emergency Management standards.

When they purchased the property, they’d intended to make only minor renovations, but structural defects required them to replace more than 50 percent of the building, and that meant complying with the new building codes. It was an expensive, time consuming and often frustrating experience, Shields admitted.

But in the end, it saved the restaurant.

Though the building sustained some damage to its first floor lobbies and outdoor Tiki bar, Windansea was back in business less than three weeks after the storm.

Jenkinson’s Aquarium, Point Pleasant, NJ

When Hurricane Sandy hit the Jersey shore in October of 2012, thousands of businesses up and down the coast — from Middlesex County through Cumberland County — were heavily damaged or completely destroyed.

But inside Jenkinson’s Aquarium on the Point Pleasant Boardwalk, all was well with the penguins, sharks and other sea creatures who call the aquarium home.

The popular seaside tourist attraction sustained only minor damage thanks to the efforts of Jenkinson’s staff.

As Hurricane Sandy came ashore, a powerful storm surge swept through the lower floor of Jenkinson’s Aquarium, flowing out into the streets and surged several blocks deep into Point Pleasant Beach, then swept back the way it had come as the surge receded.

Despite the direct hit, the building housing Jenkinson’s Aquarium suffered only minor damage. There was debris to be removed. Several of the aquarium’s large plastic garbage barrels, housed in the lower level when the ocean came through, were scattered around the borough. But the staff embedded in the aquarium remained safe and dry. All of the marine lives – penguins, sharks, seahorses, exotic fish – were safe.

What saved Jenkinson’s?

“Our Business Continuity plan was excellent,” notes Cindy Claus, director of Jenkinson’s Aquarium.

“Without it, I really think we would have been in a bad way. We were ready when Sandy got here.”

See a video about Jenkinson’s Aquarium at: http://www.fema.gov/medialibrary/media_records/11215

Panini Bay, Tuckerton, NJ

When the Panini Bay Waterfront Restaurant in Tuckerton was damaged by Superstorm Sandy, owner and Chef Ivar Johnson had several critical decisions to make. Chief among t A view of the Panini Bay Restaurant with the enclosed wheelchair lift. The Main Feature of the Rebuilt Panini Bay Is the Enclosed Wheelchair Lifthem was how to maintain wheelchair access for customers with disabilities while elevating the remaining structure and incorporating additional mitigation features.

The restaurant had a wheelchair ramp before Sandy, but rebuilding it was not feasible given the height of the elevation.

Panini Bay’s main floor was elevated to sixteen feet above sea level, on 9-foot high pylons. A new seating area was built on a raised platform and the kitchen was relocated to the center of the building. A multilevel staircase was added.

What made elevation workable?

The main feature of the rebuilt Panini Bay is the enclosed wheelchair lift outside the restaurant that transports customers up to the entrance.

The lift cost $25,000. Two people, along with a rider using a wheelchair, can fit inside comfortably. The lift has a seat, a seat belt, and an emergency phone inside. The enclosure cost an additional $12,000 and completely surrounds the lift and its mechanics, but it makes it possible for all of Johnson’s customers to enjoy dinner on the waterfront at Panini Bay.

“The lift gets plenty of use,” Johnson said.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

Follow FEMA online at www.twitter.com/FEMASandy, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/FEMASandy, www.facebook.com/fema, www.fema.gov/blog, and www.youtube.com/fema. Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema.

The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.”

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Mitigation Makes for Success: A Tale of Three Businesses

FDRC Initiative Brings Colleges, Towns Together For Recovery

EATONTOWN, N.J. — It started with an emergency grant request. Then a marketing plan needed to be developed. Dunes needed repair and construction permits needed to be filed. Then someone decided a wastewater feasibility study was worth pursuing.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, students and faculty at colleges and universities in New Jersey lent their expertise to all of these projects and more. It was done with the guidance of the Academic Recovery Team (ART), a creation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinator’s office.

The ART team is a group of experts from various academic institutions and disciplines, including landscape architecture, coastal engineering, environmental policy, economic and community planning, emergency management and homeland security.

FEMA reached out to colleges around the state to create the ART. Participating schools now include Richard Stockton College, Rowan University, Monmouth University, Rutgers’ Department of Landscape Architecture, Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Montclair State University.

“We sought out most of those schools,” FDRC’s Mark Strohoefer said. “We were looking for places that could provide skill sets the towns needed – engineering, architecture, business schools, economics, and social work.” He also said that the schools were interested in a more formal format for handling disaster relief, and that FDRC would be interested in contacting other colleges based on geography and the demands of future projects.

One of the initial impulses behind the creation of ART was that colleges had been getting involved in disaster relief work before, but weren’t communicating and working with the surrounding communities. ART allows FEMA and FDRC to match the skills and competencies of students and faculty with suitable projects, providing a benefit to both the college and the town.

It began immediately after Hurricane Sandy struck, when Tuckerton and Little Egg Harbor Township had an urgent need for a grant writer. The FDRC put the municipalities in touch with Stockton, who sent a student volunteer to assist. Later, a marketing class went to Tuckerton to create marketing plans for the town. The college started a “Downtown and Main Street” roundtable consisting of professors, three FEMA representatives, and mayors, city council members and business leaders from five neighboring towns.

The Stockton Center for Community Engagement announced the Adopt-a-Town program, which will enhance connections between the school’s students and faculty and towns in need of help recovering from disasters. Through the program, which officially launched in mid-September 2014, the school adopted Tuckerton and Little Egg Harbor Township as its partners. Over the next two years, the alliance expects to expand the Tuckerton marketing plan, create an economic development plan for the area and build three rain gardens.

Strohoefer credits the Center for Community Engagement with driving the initiative in its early days. It was Stockton officials who brought FDRC and Rowan together.

This past summer, Rowan students began a 12-month long wastewater feasibility study for Cumberland County. NJIT offered “Alternative Spring Break” and had approximately 40 students go to Sea Bright to work on repairing dunes, and Monmouth students helped the Highlands construction department clear a backlog of permit applications.

The extra assistance is welcome, as many of the municipalities affected by Sandy were small towns, which lack the personnel, money, or expertise to deal with the multitude of issues they faced post-Sandy. When Tuckerton, Little Egg Harbor Township and neighboring Eagleswood Township needed help managing their coastline issues, FEMA helped them combine into one project to present to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Tuckerton and Little Egg Harbor Township were awarded a $2.4 million grant from NJDEP.

Two years after Sandy, Strohoefer sees FEMA’s role with the ART and the schools shifting from coordinating recovery to a greater emphasis on preparedness. When FEMA’s mission in New Jersey is over, a state entity is expected to take over and ensure that the team will be ready for the next disaster. The ultimate goal, Strohoefer says, is to create a system that can work for any disaster in any state.

The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.”

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FDRC Initiative Brings Colleges, Towns Together For Recovery

Calling All Mayors: Reduce Your Town’s Flood Risk, Insurance Costs through FEMA’s Community Rating System

EATONTOWN, NJ — Nearly two years after Hurricane Sandy, communities around New Jersey are still recovering from the damages inflicted by that historic storm.

The cost of cleaning up debris, clearing waterways and roads, repairing damaged sewer systems and other critical infrastructure, and rebuilding homes and businesses assaulted by wind and water is well into the tens of billions of dollars.

The idea that a storm like Sandy could happen again isn’t one we want to contemplate. But the fact is, not only could it happen again, chances are good that it will.

It’s just a matter of time.

The good news is that it’s possible to take steps now to reduce your community’s vulnerability to flooding and strengthen its resilience before another Sandy comes to town.

One way to accomplish that is to participate in the Community Rating System, a hazard mitigation program administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The goals of the CRS program are to reduce losses caused by flooding, facilitate accurate insurance ratings and promote awareness about flood insurance.

Residents of towns that participate in CRS pay reduced flood insurance premiums. The premiums are discounted in five percent increments based on the level of flood protection each community has achieved.

Communities raise their CRS rating via their achievements in four categories: Information, Mapping and Regulations, Flood Damage Reduction, and Flood Preparedness.

Sixty-one communities and the Meadowlands area in New Jersey are presently enrolled in the CRS program, saving more than $17 million combined on their flood insurance premiums.

Joining the CRS program is free, but it does require the commitment of the community. Mayors of towns that want to participate must send a letter of interest to the regional office of FEMA, which for New Jersey is:

Federal Emergency Management Agency
Region II office
26 Federal Plaza, 13^th Floor
New York, N.Y.10278
(212) 680-8594

FEMA representatives will then arrange a visit to review the community’s floodplain management status and ensure that it meets federal regulations.

Once the community is granted a “letter of good standing,” it receives a verification visit from the Insurance Services Office, a FEMA contract agency, to verify the community’s eligibility for the program and to determine its rating.

Once accepted into the program, towns must file annual reports showing the measures they have taken to reduce their flood risks. Every five years, each town must undergo a complete audit to ensure that they remain in compliance with the CRS program.

Most communities enter the CRS at Level 9, which immediately entitles residents to a five percent reduction in their flood insurance bills. Communities achieve the maximum premium discount of 45 percent when they reach level one.

More importantly, they will have strengthened their ability to withstand the whims of Mother Nature when storm clouds gather and waters rise.

As of May 1, 2014, 11 communities in New Jersey had achieved a Level 5 in the CRS, earning property owners a 25 percent reduction in their flood insurance premiums. Those communities are: Avalon, Beach Haven, Long Beach Township, Longport, Mantoloking, Margate, Pompton Lakes, Sea Isle City, Stafford Township, Stone Harbor and Surf City.

With another hurricane season on the horizon, now is the perfect time to increase your town’s ability to weather a future storm. Learn more about NFIP’s CRS program online at http://www.fema.gov/national-flood-insurance-program-community-rating-system

The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.”

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Calling All Mayors: Reduce Your Town’s Flood Risk, Insurance Costs through FEMA’s Community Rating System

FEMA Public Assistance Tops $3.8 Billion

NEW YORK – With the obligation of more than $982 million to New York University’s Langone Medical Center along with many other projects, disaster assistance funding from FEMA’s Public Assistance program to help rebuild New York after Hurricane Sandy now exceeds $3.8 billion.

FEMA Public Assistance is supporting the restoration of New York’s storm-damaged infrastructure by funding projects to renovate schools, refurbish hospitals, restore parks and repair public transportation systems. FEMA Public Assistance provides grants to state and local governments and eligible nonprofit organizations.

The award to NYU Langone was one of the first utilizing the Public Assistance Alternative Procedures Pilot Program for Permanent Work, authorized by the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act and signed into law by President Obama in January 2013. The program is a new way to fund disaster recovery by expediting funding for Public Assistance projects and providing flexibility in the use of funding for recovery.

The $982,472,017 will be used to restore damaged buildings at the NYU Langone Medical Center and for mitigation measures designed to protect it from future storms.

Other awards include:

• Almost $216 million for the New York Health and Hospitals Corporation for emergency and protective measures as well as repairs and restoration to facilities;

• Nearly $43 million to the New York School Construction Authority to renovate classrooms and repair school buildings; and

• Approximately $11.4 million for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for repair, replacement and hazard mitigation of damaged elements of the transportation system.

Additional funding is expected for an array of projects throughout the affected areas.

To learn more about FEMA Public Assistance in New York, visit: fema.gov/public-assistance-local-state-tribal-and-non-profit and dhses.ny.gov/oem/recovery.

The Sandy Recovery Office supports disaster recovery operations for New Jersey and New York from field offices in Eatontown, N.J. and Forest Hills, N.Y., coordinating all federal agency funding designated for Hurricane Sandy long-term recovery operations in both states.

For more information, visit http://www.fema.gov/sandy-recovery-office

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FEMA Public Assistance Tops $3.8 Billion

After Assault by Sandy, FEMA, State, Fund Model Mitigation Project for Passaic Valley Sewerage Authority

Eatontown, NJ — In October of 2012, storm surges caused by Hurricane Sandy rose from the waters of Newark Bay and engulfed the 152-acre Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission’s wastewater treatment facility.

Situated at water’s edge in an industrial area on Newark Bay, the sewage treatment plant lies just across the water from Jersey City and within sight of the New York skyline. Built in 1902, the facility was enlarged in 1924 and again in 1980, when secondary treatment capability was added. Today, it has an annual budget of $150 million, an employee base of approximately 600, and serves an estimated two million residents of New York and New Jersey.

The plant processes 25 percent of New Jersey’s waste and 15 percent of New York City’s. More than 1.4 million customers are on gravity feed, connected to PVSC via pipeline. Forty-eight communities feed into the system. The plant also processes waste that is delivered by truck, with some 200-300 trucks per day delivering to the facility. It is the fifth largest wastewater treatment facility in the nation.

With Hurricane Sandy bearing down on the Eastern United States, state officials and emergency managers in facilities up and down the coast began to take protective action.

“We were tasked with preparing for Sandy,” said Chris O’Shea, director of security and safety for PVSC. “But if you gave me a year, we couldn’t have prepared for it.”

The plant readied itself for Sandy as it had prepared for Irene and previous storms.

Plant workers installed covers to protect switchgears and other critical systems. PVSC prepared to deactivate some functions and evacuate the plant if flood waters infiltrated. Motor vehicles were moved to higher ground within the footprint of the plant

But flood waters rose swiftly, preventing facility workers from performing emergency actions such as de-energizing the system, which could have reduced damage and recovery times.

With Newark Bay on the east side of the plant, officials conducted a phased shutdown of operations on that side.

“As water began to encroach on the facility, we shut down 33 motor control centers throughout the plant.”

The flood waters followed the path of least resistance.

“It actually hit us from the west and then enveloped us,” O’Shea said.

“There was a 12-foot surge of water that enveloped us like a bathtub. It filled up all our infrastructure.”

Access roads were flooded; sewage treatment tanks were under water. Clarifying tanks, located in a basin with a height of 13 feet above grade, were overtopped by the surge.

Underground tunnels housing miles of critical infrastructure filled with contaminated salt water.

In the midst of the emergency, PVSC’s energy supplier, PSE&G, cut power to the facility, the largest energy consumer in New Jersey.

“We also lost power to all of the sump pump stations,” O’Shea noted. “PSE&G didn’t restore power until Thursday (Nov. 1, 2012).”

“There was no emergency power to keep sump pumps in action. There were no phones, no lights, no computers, and no internet. The Essex County Sheriff’s Dept. couldn’t raise us by phone so they sent a team here.”

The plant was inoperable. It would remain that way for 48 hours.

O’Shea said, “We actually shut our gates in order to prevent unprocessed waste from leaving the facility.”

But, faced with the threat of having millions of gallons of raw sewage back up into thousands of homes and commercial buildings in New York and New Jersey or having it discharge into the bay, the DEP ordered PVSC to open the gates and allow the untreated sewage to pass into the bay and on into New York Harbor.

Reacting to the emergency, NJ Governor Chris Christie contacted President Barack Obama, who directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District, to remove the water from the facility.

“By Presidential decree, we became the Army Corps of Engineers No. 1 priority worldwide,” O’Shea said.

Getting the plant back on line was critical to preventing what Dan Sirkis, Geo Environmental Chief for USACE Philadelphia, called “a brewing environmental catastrophe.”

Between October 29 and November 3, almost 840 million gallons of untreated sewage flowed into Newark Bay. It was the largest spill ever recorded of any such facility in the New York and New Jersey region.

On November 3, workers succeeded in restoring primary wastewater treatment and disinfection capabilities.

But all was not back to normal.

Between Nov. 3 and November 16, when the facility’s secondary treatment operations came back on line, an estimated 3 billion gallons of partially treated sewage had been discharged.

It would be two weeks before the facility was able to restore the primary and secondary treatment capabilities critical to environmentally sound disposal.

The plant was not able to return to routine capacity until 45 days after the storm.

Many more months would pass before the plant was considered to be fully functional.

As critical as it was to bring the plant back on-line, it was abundantly clear to PVSC officials, the state and to the federal government that a catastrophe of this magnitude could never be allowed to happen again.

Mitigation – taking steps to protect the plant from a similar future disaster – was the second greatest priority.

In the aftermath of the storm, the massive task of assessing the damage, projecting the cost of repairs and exploring what funding resources were available to repair, rebuild and mitigate the facility began.

“The complex infrastructure repair projects that are undertaken after a disaster require committed partners to manage all phases of the project – from the initial damage assessment, to repair and mitigation of the damaged facilities and structures,” said Mary Goepfert, spokesman for the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management. “Being able to support the request for FEMA Public Assistance funding is one the most important steps in the process. NJOEM has been providing ongoing technical assistance to the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC) regarding their application for funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency for facilities recovery from Hurricane Sandy. NJOEM technical experts aided with the project formulation, funding application, FEMA review of the funding request and extensive work related to mitigation measures intended to reduce risk from future storms.”

Starting in March of 2013, plant officials and consultants met weekly with Federal Emergency Management Agency engineers and mitigation specialists, representatives from the state and other federal agencies to map out a plan for the repair and mitigation of the facility. “DEP was here. ACE was here. FEMA was embedded here,” said O’Shea, a retired Commanding Officer for the NJ State Police. “The transparency, the questions, the ability to pool all those resources…it was an opportunity for all these agencies to come together and come up with a fix from the beginning. I can say without hesitation, this worked well.”

The mitigation plan for the facility includes approximately 50 projects eligible for FEMA reimbursement and is expected to take 5 to 7 years to complete. “This has clearly been a complex and challenging project for all involved,” said FEMA NJ-SRO Director John Covell. “It required a team effort by commission officials, and a number of state and federal agencies to insure that the repair and mitigation plan was developed in a way that is environmentally sound and economically prudent. We believe this project will stand as a model for best practices in mitigation for many years to come.”

As the design phase of the project gets under way, temporary mitigation measures for the facility are being taken or are already in place.

To date, the plant has invested approximately $10 million of its own funds in repair and mitigation procedures, with their estimated total investment projected at $25 million.

FEMA has written 46 projects for the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission. Forty-two of the forty-six have been obligated, for a project total of $72,017,026.81 and an obligated amount of $64,815,324.14.

The remaining four projects are in review/pending award and represent a project total of $291,521,375.47 that includes major mitigation initiatives to prevent a recurrence in any future similar events.

The Environmental Assessment (EA) comment period for the projects ended July 17, 2014 and obligation of remaining project funds is anticipated by late summer.

The Passaic Valley project – the largest of its kind in the state – will endure as a model of effective mitigation planning, said O’Shea, a member of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security Water Sector Security Working Group.

As the largest sewerage treatment facility in the state, similar facilities in New Jersey are paying close attention to the mitigation measures PVSC is taking to prevent another storm from creating another disaster at PVSC. “They certainly look to us for Best Practices,” O’Shea said.

Workers are presently elevating high voltage cabling on poles that extend 27 feet into the air. Plant security and control systems are also being elevated. ‘Muscle walls”’ (flood barriers) have been installed around critical buildings. Emergency gates have been built at the plant’s head end and numerous other measures are being taken to protect the plant until a permanent flood wall is constructed.

Should there be another storm before those permanent fixes are accomplished, O’Shea said, “No-one is going to accept (the excuse) that we were waiting for the project to begin.

“Nothing could have prepared us for a storm like Sandy,” he continued. “What the system was never built to handle was 170 miles of the state being destroyed. We weren’t built to have a system in place that could cover us for an event like Sandy. We are dealing with a scope of disaster that is enormous. Two years out, this is enormous. Once was enough, that’s for sure.”

http://www.fema.gov/disaster/4086/updates/sandy-one-year-later

Follow FEMA online at www.fema.gov/blog, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema, and www.youtube.com/fema. Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema.

The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.

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After Assault by Sandy, FEMA, State, Fund Model Mitigation Project for Passaic Valley Sewerage Authority

When It Comes To Hurricanes, Lightning Really Can Strike Twice

LINCROFT, N.J. — With another hurricane season just getting under way, residents of New Jersey may look upon the prospect of another storm with a great deal more apprehension than they felt before Hurricane Sandy struck the Jersey coast.

New Jersey residents have witnessed firsthand the destructive power of a storm like Sandy.

Sandy was not the first storm to wreak havoc in New Jersey, but she was one of the most powerful to strike the state in many decades, and the damage she inflicted was widespread.

Today, more than 18 months after the storm, New Jerseyans are still recovering. The good news is that they are rebuilding stronger, safer and smarter.

Up and down the New Jersey coast, towns are engaged in restoring infrastructure and taking steps to ensure that their communities will never again be caught in the bull’s eye of a hurricane without preparation.

Hundreds of homes along the Jersey Shore have been elevated. Many municipalities have moved critical facilities away from areas vulnerable to flooding.

Thanks to extensive outreach efforts by FEMA and the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, residents and business owners are far better informed about how to plan for, protect against, and recover from storms and other possible disasters than ever before.

Weather experts are predicting a less active hurricane season on the Atlantic Coast than in recent years due to the fact that water temperatures are projected to be cooler than they have been under the influence of El Nino.

While a storm of the magnitude of Sandy may not occur again for many years, it is always a good idea to prepare for the possibility that a storm or other disaster may interrupt the usual summer cycles of rainy and sunny days and present the state with a major weather challenge.

If that occurs, it’s up to each of us to be ready to respond effectively.

That means using the tools of preparedness that can mean the difference between life and death, danger and safety, when a storm arrives.

Perhaps the most important thing you can do is create a family communications plan. Make cards for each family member with names and contact numbers. Have a contact in another state, or at least another town, that family members can get in touch with, as making a long-distance call or even sending a text message may be easier than a local call during a disaster.

Know how to get to higher ground if you need to evacuate, what your community’s evacuation route is, and where it goes. New Jersey has several state roads, U.S. highways and interstates designated as state coastal evacuation routes along with county and local routes.

You also want to know just how vulnerable your home and property are to flooding. Learn the elevation level of your property and whether there are any levees or dams in the area that might pose a flood threat.

Secure your home’s windows, roof, and garage. Permanent storm shutters are best for windows, but plywood five-eighths of an inch thick and cut to fit is an effective temporary solution and will also work on windowed garage doors. Secure the roof to the frame of the house by adding straps or additional clamps, and while you’re up there, make sure the gutters are clear.

Keep any trees and shrubs around your home trimmed to improve their wind resistance. Bring in outdoor furniture, decorations, plants in stands, and anything else outside that isn’t nailed down. If you own a boat, decide ahead of time where and how you plan to secure it.

For more tips on hurricane preparedness, visit www.fema.gov or www.ready.nj.gov.

http://www.fema.gov/disaster/4086/updates/sandy-one-year-later

Follow FEMA online at www.fema.gov/blog, www.twitter.com/fema, www.facebook.com/fema, and www.youtube.com/fema. Also, follow Administrator Craig Fugate’s activities at www.twitter.com/craigatfema.

The social media links provided are for reference only. FEMA does not endorse any non-government websites, companies or applications.

Originally posted here –

When It Comes To Hurricanes, Lightning Really Can Strike Twice

For Communities Plagued by Repeated Flooding, Property Acquisition May Be the Answer

LINCROFT, N.J. – Millions of people enjoy living near the water, but few people actually want to live in it.

When a property or a neighborhood experiences repeated flooding, costs for the property owner, the community and the state can escalate rapidly.

Flooding may impact the stability of a home or an entire neighborhood, damage or destroy personal property, impact property values and lead to injuries or loss of life. Emergency responders may risk their own lives to help residents escape rising waters.

And while the waters eventually recede, the misery caused by floods is long lasting. The impact of a storm surge may have structurally weakened formerly sturdy homes. Water-laden walls and floors may set the stage for the development of hard-to-eradicate colonies of mold that can present health risks for vulnerable residents, particularly those with compromised immune systems, children and the elderly. Repeated flooding may leave homes uninhabitable and unlikely to attract a buyer.

For all of these reasons, states and federal governments have acted to intervene in this cycle of decline by offering voluntary buyout programs to homeowners in neighborhoods that have been subject to repeated flooding.

In 2007, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection established Blue Acres, a permanent, flood hazard mitigation program.

Funded via a combination of federal, state and local grants, the Blue Acres program established a protocol for purchasing homes from willing sellers in communities subject to repeated flooding.

Once purchased by the municipality, the homes are demolished and the property is designated as open space.

Property acquisition is the most permanent form of flood hazard mitigation.

In New Jersey, federal funds from FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation program and from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development combine with state and municipal funding to underwrite the property acquisition program.

For eligible communities, FEMA typically funds 75 percent of the cost of property acquisition with the municipality and state contributing the remaining twenty-five percent.

In the case of Hurricane Sandy, FEMA and the state of New Jersey agreed that FEMA will cover one hundred percent of the costs of property acquisition as permitted under federal regulations.

FEMA does not buy houses directly from homeowners. Buyout projects are initiated and administered by local and state governments with grant funding support from FEMA.

Additional federal funding may also be provided by the Community Development Block Grant program administered by HUD.

To qualify for federal funding for the acquisition of flood-prone properties, a state must create a flood mitigation plan, which is then submitted to FEMA for review and approval.

In its mitigation plan, the state identifies communities that have experienced losses due to repetitive flooding and, once the plan is approved by FEMA, notifies those communities that funding for property acquisition may be available.

Once a community has been notified that funds may be available for property acquisitions in their town, community meetings are held to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the program and to explore any issues or questions that arise regarding the potential buyouts.

Homeowners in eligible communities who are interested in having their property acquired by their community must file a Blue Acres application for a buyout and follow the steps outlined in the process to secure an offer on their property and begin to move forward, leaving their flood risks behind them.

The program is completely voluntary; no homeowner is required to sell their property or is forced to move because their home is located in an area subject to repetitive flooding.

Homes that are determined to be eligible for buyouts are purchased by the town at the fair market value of the property prior to the flood. The fair market value is determined as the result of an appraisal conducted by a certified appraiser using sales of comparable homes sold before the flood event.

Homeowners who disagree with the appraisal have the right to appeal within 30 days following a written offer.

The municipality must receive the property free of any mortgages, liens or outstanding taxes. Any debt connected to the property must be paid off and the amount of that debt is deducted from the amount paid to the property owner before the transfer is complete.

The State will conduct title searches for each property to verify ownership and to identify any issues that prevent the homeowner from giving the state clear title to the property. Any debts outstanding on the property are paid off through the proceeds of the sale with the remainder of the proceeds being paid to the property owner.

Once a property has been purchased through the Blue Acres program, the home is demolished and the land becomes public property, designated via deed-restriction as open space.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the NJDEP announced plans to use $300 million in federal disaster recovery funds to purchase approximately 1,300 homes in areas subject to repeated flooding. The properties to be acquired include 300 homes in the Passaic River Basin, in Manville and in other tidal areas of the state.

To date, FEMA has obligated $73 million of the anticipated $300 million for property acquisition initiatives in New Jersey.

The first post-Sandy buyouts in New Jersey took place in the towns of Sayreville and South River in Middlesex County, which were inundated by storm waters when the Raritan and South Rivers overflowed their banks and a storm surge rose from Raritan Bay. The first demolition took place in Sayreville on March 13, 2014.

In accordance with the funding agreement between the state and FEMA, FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program is providing 100 percent of the funding for the initial round of buyouts in South River, Sayreville and Woodbridge.

Approximately 198 properties have been acquired and demolished or are pending acquisition and demolition in Woodbridge. In South River, 77 properties are approved for acquisition and demolition, bringing the total of purchased homes in so far to 273.

Forty-one homeowners in Old Bridge Township and 9 homeowners in Lawrence Township have submitted buyout applications and are awaiting approvals.

The state ultimately aims to purchase 1,300 post-Sandy properties to mitigate flood risk by establishing permanent, public open space and to get homeowners in flood-prone areas permanently out of harm’s way.

For more information on the New Jersey Blue Acres program, visit http://www.state.nj.us/dep/greenacres/blue_flood_ac.html

To view a video on the Blue Acres program at work in Sayreville, N.J., go to http://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/videos/93670

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For Communities Plagued by Repeated Flooding, Property Acquisition May Be the Answer

Closeout Process Begins For New Jersey Public Assistance Projects

LINCROFT, N.J. — The Federal Emergency Management Agency has closed its first Public Assistance projects undertaken in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

The first two large projects FEMA and the State of New Jersey closed were debris removal in Atlantic County, which was federally obligated for $169,937.65, and Category B emergency protective measures in Lower Township, Cape May County, for $40,067.20. Category B can consist of anything safety-related, from temporary traffic signs and barricades to sandbagging, deploying police and fire crews and emergency construction and/or demolition.

The State of New Jersey has submitted 63 large projects to FEMA Public Assistance that are ready to be closed. The closeout process begins when a project is funded and completed. The applicant must certify to the state that the work is finished and all of the allocated money was spent. Small projects are often bundled together under one applicant and can be closed as a group when they are all complete. Large projects must be closed individually. Work has started on 20, said Chris Baggot, FEMA Public Assistance Task Force Leader.

More than $1.15 billion in Public Assistance grants have been obligated in New Jersey since Hurricane Sandy struck in October 2012. There have been 1,724 applicants for Public Assistance. The Public Assistance FAQ at www.fema.gov defines a large project as any incident with damage costs greater than a predetermined amount that is recalculated every fiscal year. As of February 26, 2014, the threshold was raised from $68,500 to $120,000 because of the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act of 2013. Of the estimated 5,146 Public Assistance projects in the system in New Jersey, 1,585 are considered large projects.

Through the Public Assistance program, FEMA grants state governments money to reimburse municipalities, county governments and eligible private nonprofit agencies for the repair or replacement of damaged roads and bridges, water-control facilities, public buildings and their contents, publicly owned utilities, and parks and recreation areas. It also includes funds for emergency services and eligible debris-removal costs related to the disaster. FEMA reimbursed these applicants 90 percent of the eligible cost.

“We have been able to accelerate the process to get to the point where we can close out projects and get people their money,” Baggot said.

After all project work is certified as complete, the Final Inspection Report (FIR) is initiated. Supporting documents are audited and added to the report, and amendments may be written after cost overages and/or shortfalls are reconciled. After the report is reviewed by the applicant and grantee, it is entered into the Emergency Management Mission Integrated Environment (EMMIE) grant tracking program. The project is then closed if the grantee (in this case, the state) requests it.

“If a project isn’t closed, we’re usually waiting for additional data from the applicants if the work has at least been completed,” Baggot said.

More than $762 million has been obligated for emergency projects, including debris removal and emergency protective measures, while permanent repairs to roads, bridges, water control facilities, utilities and buildings, have cost $380.5 million.

“Our goal is to have the large projects finished in two years,” Baggot said.

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Closeout Process Begins For New Jersey Public Assistance Projects

FEMA Calls for Focus on Resilience and Risk during May Observance

LINCROFT, N.J. — The New York and New Jersey Sandy Recovery field offices are supporting a national initiative to maximize resilience and minimize risk. FEMA is encouraging those rebuilding from Hurricane Sandy to join the agency in its recognition of the 34th annual Building Safety Month (BSM) to promote the importance of high building standards, protecting the environment and saving energy.

BSM is a public awareness campaign established by the International Code Council (ICC). The global campaign focuses on public outreach and education to increase the overall safety and sustainability of buildings through the adoption of model building codes and promotion of code enforcement—elements for New York and New Jersey to consider as the area rebuilds after the storm.

Those in the affected states—and nationwide—can avail themselves of FEMA’s Building Science Department online and print information about various natural and man-made disasters and how they affect building safety. The agency introduces basic concepts used to design new or retrofitted buildings. Also offered are measures to increase resilience against future disasters while retaining or elevating efficiency—a two-pronged approach in dealing with climate change.

For the fourth consecutive year, President Obama has proclaimed May as National Building Safety Month to underscore the role that safe building codes and standards play in decreasing the effects of disasters and making the nation resilient. Building codes protect citizens from disasters like fires, flooding and weather-related events like Hurricane Sandy and structural collapse.

The overarching theme of BSM is Building Safety: Maximizing resilience, minimizing risks with sub-themes for each of its respective four weeks: fire, weather, yard and outdoor safety, and for the final week of the campaign, Building a brighter, more efficient tomorrow.

For more information, on FEMA’s Building Science Branch, visit www.fema.gov/building-science. More information on Building Safety Month is at: www.buildingsafetymonth.org and www.iccsafe.org.

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FEMA Calls for Focus on Resilience and Risk during May Observance

Oceanport’s Chris Baggot: From Sandy Survivor to Sandy Recovery Coordinator

LINCROFT, N.J. — As Deputy Coordinator of the Oceanport, N.J. Office of Emergency Management, Chris Baggot has weathered a lot of storms.

But nothing so profoundly altered the landscape of his community like Hurricane Sandy.

The 3.7 square mile town on the Shrewsbury River was devastated by the storm. Five hundred of the 2000 homes in this close-knit community were substantially damaged or destroyed. Oceanport also lost its police station, its borough hall, its ambulance squad building, its library and its courthouse.

Some 18 months after the Oct. 29, 2012 hurricane, 71 families were still unable to return home.

The Baggot family is among them. The Baggots have been renting a one-bedroom apartment in the nearby community of Eatontown while they await the demolition and reconstruction of their home on Blackberry Bay.

While they were approved for an RREM grant of $150,000 to underwrite the rebuilding, a rough winter delayed the start of construction on their replacement home. Once the weather improves and contractors break ground, it will be another six to nine months before Chris, his wife, Wendy, and college-age son, Zachary, will be able to enjoy life in Oceanport once again.

“I’m a Sandy survivor. We don’t use the word ‘victim,’’’ he says.

He carries A picture of Chris Baggott Chris Baggot: From Sandy Survivor to Sandy Recovery Coordinatorthat perspective into his role at the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s New Jersey Sandy Recovery Office, where he recently became a CORE employee after joining FEMA as a Local Hire in December of 2012.

It was his second time assisting his fellow New Jerseyans as a FEMA employee: Baggot was also recruited as a Local Hire in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene in 2011.

Hired initially as a project specialist for Public Assistance, Baggot moved on to become a Cost Estimating Format reviewer, Quality Assurance lead, Operations task force lead and finally, CORE Operations Task Force Lead.

In that capacity, he explains, “I oversee the life cycle of a Public Assistance project from the writing stage all the way through to obligation.”

Baggot’s personal experience with the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy has underlined his understanding of the importance of the FEMA mission in helping communities rebuild and become more resilient.

“It sure is nice when people say to you, ‘Look, we need this; we need that,’ and you can give it to them in a reasonable way,” says Baggot, “and it’s nice when you can manage expectations when people ask for the moon and stars. That’s not really what we’re there to provide. We’re there to get them back to pre-disaster conditions.”

He has plenty of praise for his colleagues at FEMA, who came here in the immediate aftermath of the storm to help the hard-hit residents of New Jersey get back on their feet.

“The FEMA people that I’ve had the opportunity to work with have really been great.” He’s also enjoyed observing their surprise at how different New Jersey is from its “What exit?” stereotype.

“They talk about how beautiful it is – they thought it was all blacktop,” Baggot says with a laugh.

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Oceanport’s Chris Baggot: From Sandy Survivor to Sandy Recovery Coordinator

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