![]() ![]() “The last data point used to determine flood risk is from 1999. LaTourette noted that the flood risk extends beyond the boundaries mapped by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), with 38.5% of claims from Tropical Storm Henri and 31% of claims from Ida originating outside of the FEMA designated areas. “These staggering rainfall totals, the bulk of which occurred over a six-hour period, caused creeks and rivers to rise overtop, and overwhelmed inadequate stormwater management systems with damaging and tragic results to public health, welfare, and safety across the state,” he said. Shawn LaTourette, commissioner of the NJDEP, at a joint meeting of the Senate Environment and Energy Committee and the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee earlier in August, said rainfall totals from the remnants of Ida exceeded prior monthly precipitation averages by “two to three times” in many places. AccuWeather estimated that Ida’s economic impact from Louisiana to New Jersey was $95 billion. Tropical Storm Ida saw a death toll of 30 people. “In some extreme cases we need the government to continue doing what they have been doing, which is purchase homes and businesses that are really flood susceptible and move people out of harm’s way and restore those areas, so they can provide buffers and additional natural flood mitigation.” “We also need programs that adds stormwater mitigation to existing developments,” Waltman said. Murphy, through an executive order issued in 2020, had required the NJDEP to reform regulations that would make the state more resilient to the impacts of climate change. NJPACT initiatives include modernizing environmental land use rules and facilitating climate resistance, according to the state agency. When a new development goes in, it means they are going to have to create a stormwater mitigation system that is more aggressive and that handle bigger storms.” “In the last 22 years, we are seeing bigger and bigger storms. “ DEP now thinks in terms of a two-year storm, 10-year storm, and 100-year storm, but the data they use for analysis is way out of date,” he said. The proposal would update the data on precipitation and data that is only through 1999, Waltman said. “The first thing we need to do is stop putting people in harm’s way with new construction by updating the flood maps that dictates where developments can and cannot be built.” ![]() So when we have a flood in many parts of the state including, the river can jump out of its banks and cause a lot of a damage,” Waltman said. “For new construction, it updates the data in two important ways. The emergency rule proposed includes raising the base flood elevation by two feet above currently existing maps in inland areas, the use of updated rainfall data and the implementation of new stormwater requirements. “What NJDEP has come up with, which we were led to believe would be turned into an emergency rule back in May or June, would go a long way to ensuring that we don’t make the problem worse,” said Jim Waltman, executive director of The Watershed Institute. ![]()
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