Manchester Gives County OK to Formulate Plan for Natural Disasters

The Ocean County Sheriff’s Department Office of Emergency Management (OEM) will prepare a long-term strategy for Manchester Township to reduce disaster losses and avoid repeated damage.

The approved a resolution on October 24 authorizing the county to develop the plan over two months after Hurricane Irene flooded some areas in Manchester. 

In August, 16 homes in the Cedar Glen Homes development were from the storm, and homes were damaged along Route 571 near the Toms River border in the Surf and Stream Campground and in the area of Birmingham Avenue and Lake Drive in Pine Lake Park, according to Arthur Abline, Manchester Township Office of Emergency Management Coordinator.

“There was water 18 inches to 3-feet deep in homes,” Abline said. “The worst we ever saw before was up to the door.”

Abline said having what’s known as a hazard mitigation plan in place makes the township eligible for Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

“It gives options if people want to keep their homes — stop flooding in the future, raise the home so it no longer can flood or a buyout,” he said.

The county OEM is in the process of writing the Ocean County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan, which covers all of the county’s municipalities.

“It opens up mitigation funds for residents of the county to apply for and receive funding for repetitive losses,” said Chief Michael Osborne of the Sheriff’s Office.

Federal legislation, the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, requires towns and counties to have pre-disaster plans in place to be able to tap into post-disaster Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding. Hazard mitigation is “any action taken to reduce the loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters.”

Ultimately, these actions reduce vulnerability, helping communities recover more quickly from disasters, according to FEMA.

“We’ve never had repetitive losses," Abline said. "We have areas that flood but not to the extent as Hurricane Irene. In June, straight line winds left 128 homes with some kind of . It‘s been a weather event this year.”

While a timeline for completion of the county’s plan has not yet been set, officials said they hope to finish the work as quickly as possible.

“It’s been an ongoing process,“ Osborne said. “It will be a public/private effort to get this done, with the county, municipalities, hospitals, local emergency planning committee, school boards and others involved.”

Residents will get a chance to review the plan and give input through a series of public hearings on the plan, he said.