‘Worst Case’ Storm Plans Ready in Cape May Point

CAPE MAY POINT — With this seaside borough vulnerable to the fury of the sea and populated by a number of rental properties, a group of volunteers and the borough’s emergency management team prepared a comprehensive hurricane preparedness checklist to be widely distributed this month as hurricane season heats up.
The multi-page Ready Preparedness Checklist is being sent via email and by U.S. Postal Service mail to all residents and property owners. A team of community leaders and members of the Certified Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteers will “fan out” and talk to residents to identify groups of neighbors that will watch out for each other when an evacuation warning is issued.
Richmond Shreve, borough deputy emergency management coordinator and firefighter, said a worst-case scenario for the Point predicts a tidal swell of seven of eight feet, but if a hurricane struck during a full moon or a new moon, that could increase to as high as 17-feet.
Most recently built homes in the Point have their first floor at an elevation of 10-feet, a relatively new mandate. Older cottages may sit on the sand.
While the Point has an extensive dune system that protects it from the sea, a hurricane produces flooding beyond over wash, he said. Winds from a hurricane could drive storm surge into the borough from Sunset Beach and Sunset Boulevard, said Shreve.
There are no emergency shelters in Cape May County, so evacuation would be a necessity.
For those who think they could ride out a hurricane in home, Shreve said ambulances and fire trucks would be evacuated to the county airport leaving no emergency vehicle in the Point to rescue those who chose to remain in their homes.
“If the flooding reaches the levels that are possible under the worst circumstances, the water would be three feet over the roof of our tallest fire truck,” said Shreve.
He said those who stay behind would not be rescued from their rooftop by a helicopter, particularly in gale force winds. All utility services such as water, sewer and electric would be shut down and remain off until after the storm passed and damage was assessed.
Since the borough is filled with rental homes, special care was taken to provide a rental property information sheet suitable for posting on a refrigerator door by landlords.
To reach vacationers, bulletin boards are being installed at beach entrances to post emergency information. The borough is also obtaining electronic information signs mounted on trailers that can be placed at the two roads that lead to the Point.
He said the sun may still be shining when a potential hurricane strike is in the offing. Visitors will be encouraged to tune to the Weather Channel at their rental property via those signs. Shreve noted many rental properties do not have land-line phones.
He said while a direct strike to Cape May Point from a hurricane is unlikely, with the great difficulty in evacuating Cape May County and the Point, residents need to be prepared.
Shreve said the most effective preparation one could make is to have a group of neighbors that are committed to looking out for one another in an emergency.
During the past winter’s storm, emergency personnel discovered it was difficult to track which people were out of town and which people were not yet accounted for in the borough.
“The most effective strategy that we found was simply asking neighbors ‘Have you heard from this one or that one?’” he said. “In that way, we could narrow the list of the people we need to check on down to a relatively small number and then firefighters in four-wheel- drive vehicles could get to those houses.”
Residents are being encouraged to complete a form naming people they can count on for support in a storm and a person they will notify if there are evacuating.
The checklist form includes boxes to fill in two locations outside of this county where a Point resident may evacuate to, and two people outside of the county that a resident would notify if they are evacuating. The form includes a place to indicate where pets would be taken noting that emergency shelters do not accept pets.
A problem for the entire county is the length of time necessary to evacuate in an area likely filled with visitors and summer residents.
County officials have predicted at least 36 hours to evacuate once the official word is given, according to the checklist. The exact track of a major storm is often uncertain 24 hours beforehand.
“Even if you leave 48 hours before, you could still be stuck in endless bumper-to-bumper traffic as the storm hits,” notes the checklist.
Most hurricanes start in the Caribbean and move up the coast from five to 10 days.
“The easiest time to get out of town is going to be four to five days before landfall,” said Shreve.
At that point, the storm may still be in the Caribbean with an uncertain point of landfall in the Mid Atlantic states, he said. Shreve said residents who evacuate early may find five times out of six they did not need to leave, but the sixth time may be a lifesaver.
Residents may also believe they’ll need two days to board up their homes, said Shreve.
“You’re not going to have those two days down here,” he said.
Shreve said the preparations were not aimed at Nor’easters but the improbable “perfect storm,” where the moon is in the right phase and instead of a hurricane veering out to sea, it comes across Ocean City, Md. and straight into Cape May County.
A public meeting will be scheduled later this month, said Shreve.