Charting a new course through flood map revisions

RELEASE: August 29, 2008 – Volume XLII, No. 35

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is updating New Jersey’s flood maps, showing which areas are most at risk when the next big storm hits. These map revisions come as climate change experts are predicting more frequent and severe storms.

Because flooding occurs where land and water meet – which adds up to a lot of places in this state we’re in - the updated flood maps are both a new tool and a new opportunity to use land more wisely.

The maps outline the geography of floodplains, and serve as the basis for state, county and local land use regulations and emergency management plans. They also determine which property owners need to buy flood insurance, and what rates will apply.

Three years ago the flood maps were outdated and didn’t reflect real-world conditions. In 2005, FEMA began a Congressionally-mandated modernization initiative to bring the maps and the mapping process into the digital age.

So far, new maps have been adopted in Bergen, Camden, Essex, Hudson, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset and Union counties. Hunterdon, Mercer and Monmouth county maps are currently under review. The update has been contentious in coastal Monmouth, where thousands of additional homes may be included in the flood zone; residents are filing comments and appeals ahead of a September deadline.

Burlington, Gloucester, Middlesex, Morris, Sussex and Warren counties are scheduled for a 2009 unveiling of new flood maps; and Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem counties are scheduled for 2010.

As in Monmouth County, the national and state trend has meant that more land and homes end up in the expanding flood zones. More accurate measuring equipment and a longer meteorological history are factors in this trend, but so is sprawl.

The rain in Spain may fall mainly on the plain, but in New Jersey a lot of it falls on roofs, roads and parking lots. As more and more impervious surfaces spread across New Jersey, rain is channeled into rivers and streams faster than the waterways can absorb it. Flooding is frequent, more damaging and more costly.

The updated maps will help us evaluate flood threats and craft emergency management plans across the state. And they will help address conservation issues like watershed management, water quality, and stormwater runoff. But will our elected officials and state regulators make the all-important connection between this new data and what it tells us about sound land use decisions?

Protecting watershed lands and keeping sprawl away from our streams and rivers is the surest way to fight flooding and pollution. But changing the way we use the flood plains is like changing the course of the Titanic.

Can we change the course of development, steer clear of these environmentally critical areas, and avoid catastrophe by moving existing homes out of harms way? How much water will it take to wash away resistance to recognizing the many values of protecting these floodplains?

To see a flood map of your area, go to http://msc.fema.gov and click on “map search.” I hope you’ll contact me at info@njconservation.org, or visit NJCF’s website at www.njconservation.org, for more information about conserving New Jersey’s precious land and natural resources.

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