FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 14, 2009

County continues to seek delay of new flood zone maps
Appeal filed in 2008 has not yet been heard, prompting this action

FREEHOLD – Court papers were filed today seeking to delay the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from adopting new flood zone maps that will require many Bayshore-area homeowners to buy flood insurance.

If they are successful in delaying implementation of the new maps, county officials are hopeful the stakeholders will then have an opportunity to discuss re-enforcing the dunes that were built in the 1970s to protect against storms. The dunes have since deteriorated and are inadequate protection.

“Our goal is to protect the lives and property of our residents, with or without flood insurance, and by doing so eliminate the need for this added expense,” Freeholder Lillian G. Burry said. “Our long-term objective is to prevent flooding from ever occurring. We firmly believe that it is better to have no flooding at all than to have your home flooded and have insurance.”

The new flood zone maps will require about 1,400 homeowners in the Bayshore region to buy flood insurance.

Estimates, provided to the county by Dr. Joseph DiLorenzo of Najarian Associates, suggest that under the current conditions two nor’easters hitting the county’s Bayshore could result in a seven foot flooding catastrophe. 

In 1974, the Army Corps of Engineers turned over the responsibility for maintaining this system of dunes to the state, which has had the responsibility every since, Burry said. In 1982, FEMA confirmed the adequacy of the levee system, and residents of the Bayshore have been relying on that assurance. FEMA repeated that assurance in its initial 2008 flood insurance study, then deleted it. 

“We feel the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers allowed the dunes, or levee, to deteriorate and become inadequate protection against storms,” said Burry, who along with Congressman Frank Pallone and Assemblywoman Amy Handlin met with Bayshore municipal officials on Aug. 12.

The 37-page court filing, prepared by Assistant County Counsel Gil Messina, was filed today in Trenton.  The appeal carries with it several attachments, including a petition signed by many of the 1,400 affected homeowners throughout the Bayshore region.

Rep. Frank Pallone, who represents the Bayshore in the 6th Congressional District, is expected to file papers along with the affected municipalities as “friends of the court,” Burry said.

“I would like to see some of the money coming out of Washington go toward repairing those dunes and levee system so that our residents do not have to fear for their safety in a big storm or spend money on flood insurance they otherwise would not need,” Burry said.

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