Coastal towns team up on flood-warning system
Shrewsbury, Navesink river towns apply for federal grant
BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer

Long Branch

Long Branch and Monmouth Beach are among nine coastal towns that have joined forces on a shared service program that would reduce flood damage throughout their communities.

Lead agency in the coalition is the neighboring Borough of Oceanport whose governing body approved a resolution at the Oct. 19 municipal meeting authorizing an application for a federal grant to fund an Automated Flood- Warning System (AFWS).

Long Branch, Monmouth Beach and Oceanport are being joined by Sea Bright, Highlands, Middletown, Rumson, Fair Haven and Little Silver for the AFWS grant.

"We are all in flood zones on either the Navesink or Shrewsbury rivers," Oceanport Mayor Lucille Chaump said in an interview after the council meeting. "Flooding is a problem.

"To be able to know when there is going to be a flood and be able to notify our residents is a really a good thing," she added.

The municipality must apply to the National Weather Service (NWS) for the grant by the Oct. 31 deadline, Chaump said.

According to the resolution, the grant will be issued through the NWS, which will provide 100 percent of the money to institute the AFWS in the nine communities.

According to Chaump, the maximum grant proposal the NWS accepts is for $100,000, and because there are nine towns involved, she said there is a good chance the towns will get the full amount.

Borough officials have estimated the project will cost around $75,000, according to Chaump.

Taxpayers would be financially responsible for upkeep and maintenance costs of the AFWS, according to Chaump, who said the total cost would be approximately $15,000 a year, which would mean only about $1,500 annually per participating municipality.

Oceanport Police Captain Mauro "Buzz" Baldanza, said in an interview last week, the flood-warning system would be installed at five automated stations on bridges throughout the communities.

All stations would transmit to a central computer, Baldanza said.

"The information gathered through the stations will be relayed by radio back to a central location in Oceanport," he said.

The stations would be installed at five bridges: the Highlands/Sea Bright Bridge; the Sea Bright/Rumson Bridge; the Oceanic Bridge which connects Middletown and Rumson; the Pleasure Bay Bridge which connects Oceanport and Long Branch; and the Gooseneck Bridge which connects Oceanport and Little Silver.

Baldanza said, "[AFWS] will measure wind, temperature [and] tide level.

"Stations can also be used by the county and municipalities for road closing by triggering a mechanism to turn lights on that will close roads automatically when the roads flood," he said.

"Those signs will be triggered automatically based on the level of water in the roadway," Baldanza said.

He added, the computer system can be set to telephone emergency management officials or the police when water levels reach a certain point.

"Primary objective is the reduction of loss of property and life due to flooding," Baldanza said. "Also, [it will] increase lead time."

The warning units are solar powered with battery backups, according to Baldanza, who said, the equipment will not require that any holes be drilled into the bridges for installation.

The equipment will attach to the guard rails or railings of the bridges and can be removed as needed for bridges under construction, he said.

New Jersey ranks fourth highest among states in the nation for flood insurance claims, according to Baldanza.

The municipalities participating in the AFWS shared service have a combined total of approximately $1.5 billion in national flood insurance policies, Baldanza said.

In Oceanport alone, there are approximately 650 households with flood insurance policies totaling approximately $159 million, Chaump said.

[AFWS] would qualify homeowners for up to a 45 percent discount in their annual flood insurance premiums," Chaump said.

Oceanport currently has a tidal gauge flood-warning system in place paid for by a $2,000 grant received from the NWS last year.

"With those, you have to go out and read them," Chaump said. "[AFWS] are automated."

Grant recipients will be announced in May and Baldanza said if the grant is received, it should take less than a year to install the system.

Chaump said the service will benefit all the municipalities involved.

"One year, [Oceanport] damaged a fire truck trying to get to people trapped from a flood during the 1992 storm," Chaump said. "This will be very proactive."

Chaump explained that Oceanport officials took the initiative to get the towns together on the shared service after Congressman Rush Holt (D-6) spoke to borough officials on the effects of Hurricane Katrina.

"[Holt] told us how we could better protect our towns," Chaump said. "He brought the grant to our attention and we called all the towns together for a meeting on Oct. 9."

Baldanza said the AFWS would be helpful for several reasons.

"[There] doesn't necessarily have to be a hurricane," he said. "At least a hurricane just comes and leaves.

"A nor'easter can hit and just stay," he said.

Greater Media staff writer Layli Whyte contributed to this story