TRENTON – Legislation Assembly Democrats Bob Andrzejczak and Bruce Land sponsored to help minimize damage during severe weather events recently gained final legislative approval from the Assembly. The measure now heads to the governor.
The sponsors noted that severe weather events, such as hurricanes and nor’easters, result in loss of life, property damage and unsanitary conditions that are detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of New Jersey residents and threaten the state’s businesses.
The bill (A-4204) would require the state Office of Emergency Management to establish a county storm preparedness funding program. The intent of the program would be to limit loss of life and property damage by ensuring that the counties most vulnerable to severe weather conditions are identified and that necessary precautions are taken by the Office of Emergency Management to protect the public from the potential dangers and losses attributable to storm damage.
“Areas like the Delaware Bayshore in Cumberland County had to fight for help in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy when they ought to have been at the top of the list for the most assistance right away,” said Andrzejczak (D-Cape May/Atlantic/Cumberland). “Regular assessments of each county’s vulnerability will ensure that the hardest hit areas are equipped beforehand to respond whenever disaster strikes.”
In implementing the program, the Office of Emergency Management, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection and the Board of Public Utilities, would conduct a risk assessment every two years to determine each county’s degree of vulnerability to infrastructure damage caused by severe weather conditions. The bill would authorize the director of the Office of Emergency Management, subject to available state appropriations, federal grants and any other funds that become available, to annually provide funding to the county offices of emergency management in amounts proportionate to each county’s risk assessment. The funds must be used by the county emergency management offices exclusively for emergency preparedness purposes, which may include, but shall not be limited to: the purchase or modernization of emergency management facilities, emergency equipment, flood mitigation services or emergency management vehicles.
“Time is of the essence in an emergency situation. The better prepared a county is to deal with a severe weather event, the faster it can help those in danger and the more likely it is that it can limit the extent of the damage,” said Land (D-Cape May/Atlantic/Cumberland). “Providing funding in accordance with a county’s degree of vulnerability is a smart, strategic means of executing emergency preparedness statewide.”
The formula for the risk assessment shall be based on the following criteria:
- the number of times that all or a portion of a county has been declared a federal disaster area due to a storm or flood occurring in the prior 10 years;
- the amount of property damage incurred within a county as a result of storms or floods occurring in the prior 10 years that caused all or a portion of the county to be declared a federal disaster area;
- the number of times that all or a portion of a county has been declared an agricultural disaster area by the United States Secretary of Agriculture due to a storm or flood occurring in the prior 10 years, and the amount of damage incurred and acreage affected;
- the estimated total assessed value of all real property in a county;
- the estimated number of people in a county residing in a flood hazard area;
- the number of times in the prior 10 years that at least 1,000 households and businesses in a county have lost power for at least two days due to a storm or flood event;
- the number of permits issued by the Department of Environmental Protection pursuant to the “Flood Hazard Area Control Act,” the waterfront development law and the “Coastal Area Facility Review Act,” in a county in the prior five years;
- the estimated number of people in a county residing within 150 feet of the mean high water line of any tidal waters;
- the mileage of coastal shoreline in a county;
- the mileage of streams at least 10 feet wide that have flooded their banks in a county in the prior five years; and
- any other factors or parameters that the Office of Emergency Management, in consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection, may determine to be useful and appropriate.
The results of the risk assessment shall be incorporated into the State Emergency Operations Plan, which the legislation also would establish. The plan would be developed in consultation with the Department of Agriculture, to support the needs of animals and individuals with an animal under their care, including domestic livestock, a domesticated animal, or a service animal, in a major disaster or emergency, and the Department of Health and Senior Services, to provide for a coordinated statewide evacuation strategy for all hospitals and other health care facilities in New Jersey, alternative sources of care for evacuated patients and proposed sites of temporary shelter in the event of an emergency.
The measure, which the Assembly passed unanimously on Thursday, gained unanimous Senate approval in February.
