NJ Flood Mitigation Task Force Report

After I wrote last night, that I nothing more to say about the recent floods, I read about the final report of the Delaware River Flood Mitigation Task Force in this morning's Star Ledger. After the September 2004 and April 2005 floods, Acting Governor Codey created the Delaware River Flood Mitigation Task Force (DRFMTF). Their final report was released on Tuesday, August 22 and is available in its entirety here. Note that you will need Adobe Reader to read the file.

I did found this paragraph from the report's executive summary (New Jersey Flood Mitigation Task Force 2006, p. 2) to be a concise summary of the issues of concern:

"The Task Force has found that damage during these events was disproportionately attributable to patterns of development that are insensitive to flooding and the lack of adequate hazard mitigation planning. The Task Force further found that recovery in the aftermath of the floods was hampered by inconsistent approaches by government agencies, uncertainty and gaps in relevant rules and regulations; and regulatory and bureaucratic barriers to appropriate reconstruction. In view of continued development pressures and expected continued increases in hurricane activity over the next several decades, significant changes in policy, management, planning, and development will be needed to limit New Jersey's risk of loss from future flood events in the Delaware basin. New Jersey is the state with the fourth largest number of repetitive loss properties and fourth largest in the total amount of National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) payouts."

The NJFMTF then makes a series of recommendations (I counted 23) that are summarized after the executive summary in about three pages. These recommendations are grouped into the following categories (each with a number of recommendations):

1. Regulatory protection of flood plains and homes must be strengthened.
2. Mitigation and Control Measures should be pursued.
3. Planning and additional resources are needed to reduce flood risk.
4. Homeowners need focused assistance before and after flooding.

It will be interesting, to say the least, to see how many of these recommendations are implemented and/or modified over the coming months as they wend there way through New Jersey's legislative or gubernatorial processes over the coming months.