Coastal infrastructureCoastal towns build resilience to prepare for future storms

Sea Bright, New Jersey is one of several communities affected by Superstorm Sandy which is actively building resiliency against the next major storm. The town, set on a narrow strip of sand between the Atlantic Ocean and the Shrewsbury River, frequently floods, and during Sandy, its entire downtown business district was damaged, as were 75 percent of the town’s homes.

The Insurance Journal reports that with the help of state funds, Sea Bright is repairing its rock sea wall and local officials have raised the level of elevation its homes need to have. Beaches are now wider and a riverfront condominium complex damaged by Sandy has been purchased by the town and will be converted into a park to act as a natural buffer for storm water. The town has added a new pumping station for stormwater and its critical electrical components have been raised to a higher floor level to keep them from being submerged in the next major storm.

Despite all the new improvements, Sea Bright is still vulnerable to storm damage. “We live on the water,” said Sea Bright resident Liz Homer, who raised her house fourteen feet after the storm. “We have an ocean and a river, and eventually, (the town is) not going to be there. You can’t beat Mother Nature; eventually, nature is going to win.”

Mayor Dina Long, who has not been able to return to her home after Sandy, said one of the town’s main resiliency decisions was requiring new or replacement bulkheads to be built higher than the old ones, adding that, yet there is no requirement that existing bulkheads be raised or that properties without bulkheads install them. The result is an uneven level of bulkheads along the river, which will keep some properties safe and others vulnerable during the next major storm. “We’ve got a community on its knees,” she said. “Many people are tapped out from elevating their houses, and we were unwilling to impose (additional costs) on them. We realize this is a flawed solution until there is a continuous, unified bulkhead. But we felt it was most important that we get started.”

Sea levels in Sea Bright are expected to increase by eighteen inches by 2050, meaning the entire town will be submerged in water during a future Sandy-like storm. Insurance Journal notes that shortly after Sandy, some environmentalists renewed their calls for flood-prone towns like Sea bright to be bought out, depopulated, and returned to a natural state. “My greatest fear is the next one comes and the federal government comes in and says, `OK, you’re done; you’re out of here,’” Long said. “That’s why I feel such an urgency to take action.”