Politics & Government
What Steps Should Aberdeen Take to Reduce Impact of Future Disasters?
Aberdeen is working on revising its portion of the Monmouth County Hazard Mitigation Plan.
The Aberdeen Office of Emergency Management wants to know what local projects residents believe will help the township better withstand a future disaster as they work to update the Hazard Mitigation Plan.
"We have to figure out and identify what the needs of the community are going forward," Powers said at Tuesday's council meeting.
The Hazard Mitigation Plan is a county-wide effort coordinated through each municipality's Office of Emergency Management (OEM). In 2000, the federal government passed the Disaster Mitigation Act which requires state and local governments to have preventative plans in place in order to qualify for Federal Emergency Management Funds in the aftermath of a disaster.
The Act also requires that the plan be updated every five years. This is the first time it is being updated, according to the Monmouth County Sheriff's Office, and the update began last summer.
The plan first evaluates what man-made and natural risks the area is susceptible to and how likely they are to occur. It also identifies areas of weakness, such as streets or homes that may flood. According to the Sheriff's Office, the goal is that each revision of the plan will help reduce the impact of disasters in the future.
In the first plan, Aberdeen identified flooding on Route 35 and on Lakeshore Drive as areas that needed to be addressed. Both projects are now in the works. The NJ Department of Transportation is spending $15.7 million to raise the level of Route 35 by as much as four feet and they also awarded $185,000 in funds to Aberdeen for improvements to Lakeshore Drive.
According to Powers, right now Aberdeen is in the public outreach portion of the plan update. He hopes to hear about problems that need to be addressed to help reduce the impact of future disasters.
He said that areas of concern, particularly since Hurricane Sandy, are the seawall, the beach and the Cliffwood Beach homes along the water.
Although flooding is common in the area, Aberdeen is also susceptible to coastal erosion, extreme temperatures, extreme winds, snow, earthquakes, wildfires and lightning as well as hurricanes, tropical storms and Nor'easters.
He can be contacted via email at john.powers@aberdeennj.org, or you can post your comments below.
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