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Jan. 6 to 12
Weather Luck Holding
The story of the week has to be the southern California wildfires, which have destroyed whole areas of Los Angeles and resulted in 16 deaths, as of Sunday night, Jan. 12.
In contrast: South Jersey, where Gov. Phil Murphy declared a State of Emergency and seven counties braced for a winter storm that would drop anywhere from 5 to 8 inches of snow in parts of Cape May County. But our inconvenient storm caused no loss of life or significant destruction of property.
Many county and municipal services closed for the day, a few reorganization meetings were rescheduled, work crews kept roads clear as much as possible, and winter storm Blair caused only a few small, scattered outages.
For us the snowfall may even have a silver lining in that it will undoubtedly ease the drought conditions in South Jersey once the snow melts down into the underground water supplies.
Our luck held during the hurricane season as well. The 2024 storm season was a record-breaking one, with Helene causing more deaths than any Atlantic basin storm since Katrina in 2005. Five storms made landfall, and insurance losses were expected to be as high as $50 billion. Cape May County did not feel the direct brunt of any of them.
California is now in the lead among states that are experiencing a climate-related home insurance crisis. Homeowners in Texas, Colorado, Florida and Louisiana are all finding it hard to locate insurance even at inflated prices. New Jersey will not face any imminent insurance crisis, but it is highly likely that the Garden State will continue to see premium growth well above annual inflation levels.
Upward pressure on insurance premiums comes just as newly proposed land-use regulations known as REAL are set to be adopted in 2025. The new regs will increase the areas where flood insurance policies will be required.
Bird Flu
Just three years ago the virus that causes H5N1 bird flu was quietly moving into the United States. It was, to most of us, a distant threat to public health, something to be left to the experts in the various government agencies that deal with such threats.
Now the virus has taken the life of a Louisiana man and is confirmed to be present in all 50 states. Our chance to eradicate it early is past. The virus is affecting more than 100 million birds, mostly domestic poultry. Also, more than 1,000 herds of dairy cattle are confirmed to have the virus, and a total of 66 individuals who work closely with cows. But a full-on public health problem caused by the H5N1 is not imminent nor even likely.
The CDC says that a H5N1 pandemic has only a moderate chance of developing. Apparently the current strain of the bird flu is not easily transmitted to humans. In the cases where that transmission has occurred, most of those infected have recovered quickly.
Public health officials recommend that individuals get the seasonal flu shot, avoid drinking raw milk and stay clear of dead or sick animals.
Health officials are concerned about the potential for the development of a more transmissible strain of the H5N1 virus through theoretical mixing with the seasonal flu strain. Even though transmission to humans and among humans is not a current threat, public health agencies are preparing just in case.
In October the U.S Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response sent just over $70 million to pharmaceutical companies to support the development of an H5 vaccine. There is currently no vaccine available for H5N1 virus. For now the CDC is using its flu surveillance systems to monitor for H5 bird flu activity in people.
All 50 states have had the virus detected in commercial or wild bird groups or dairy cattle. As of the end of December, 617 commercial poultry flocks had been infected, along with numerous backyard hobby flocks. Infection is also present in 901 dairy herds in 16 states. An American Veterinary Medical Association analysis says a “sustained and robust” response to the threat of a future pandemic is necessary now.
While the virus has been detected in wild birds, there is no infection detected in New Jersey domestic poultry or cattle. There is no reported human infection in the state as well.
There is one other very visible impact from the rising cases of avian influenza. Egg-laying flocks, especially in states with cage-free mandates, have been affected, leading to cuts in production and soaring egg prices.
EV Sales
Electric vehicle sales reached a record level in the third quarter of 2024. According to Kelly Blue Book, there was an 11% year-over-year increase, with almost 350,000 vehicles sold. The quarter put the EV market share at 8.9%.
As of December 2024 the state Department of Environmental Protection reports 200,000 electric vehicle registrations in New Jersey, with all but 20% fully electric. The others are plug-in hybrids.
The growth in EV sales is one of the factors driving up electric supply requirements. With demand moving up faster than supply capacity, electricity bills are rising.
New Jersey is growing its infrastructure for charging EVs away from home. The state has more than 1,200 charging stations. The structure is not as robust as one might like, but state goals seek to increase the sales of EVs and the expansion of the related infrastructure. These goals include 15% of multifamily residential properties with EV chargers by the end of 2025 and 20% of all franchised overnight lodging businesses with EV chargers.
Cape May County has a reasonable infrastructure for supporting electric vehicles given its permanent population. Whether the charging infrastructure in the county will be able to keep up with the number of electric vehicles that tourists arrive in during the summer remains to be seen.
A number of New Jersey incentives for EV purchases are dwindling. Sales tax on EVs is back to the full 6.625%, for example.
Happenings
*Winter storm Blair swirled from the center of the nation, through the capital, and then made its presence known in Cape May County and other parts of New Jersey.
*The Ocean City Board of Education has approved settlement of a 2020 lawsuit in which a student alleged sexual misconduct by a substitute teacher and lack of adequate response by the school district.
*A fire that began before winter storm Blair arrived damaged multiple unoccupied trailers at the Seashore Campground on Seashore Road in Erma on Jan. 5.
*Slowing revenue, pressure on student enrollments and rising costs have combined to lead the rating agency Moody’s to issue a negative outlook for K-12 public schools in 2025. School districts in Cape May County are not likely to prove the agency wrong.
*The North American Electric Reliability Corp. has released its 2024 Reliability Assessment report, which shows that over half of North America, including New Jersey, is at elevated risk of energy shortages.
*Two firefighters suffered minor injuries when a vehicle struck a Dennis Township Volunteer Fire Company pickup that was blocking Route 47 in Dennisville due to an earlier accident on the roadway on Monday, Jan. 6, during the snow emergency, the fire company reported.
*A car’s driver was trapped and injured after the vehicle went off Tuckahoe Road in Marmora and down an embankment and into the woods on Wednesday morning, Jan. 8.
*Tim Carney took the oath of office as Stone Harbor’s fourth mayor in the last 32 years at the Borough Council’s reorganization meeting on Jan. 7.
*Route 9 is scheduled to remain closed and detoured in both directions near Gerrit Boulevard at milepost 3.2 in Lower Township through February for work on a stormwater facilities restoration project, the state Department of Transportation announced.
*Zach Mullock was sworn in to a new term as mayor and Steve Bodnar as a new member of the City Council in Cape May.
*An Upper Township Committee with three new members took its place on the dais at the committee’s Jan. 3 reorganization meeting and then chose Curtis Corson as the township’s new mayor.
*The Cape May County Zoo announced that one of its red pandas, named David Bowie, has died.
*The Stone Harbor Borough Council has tabled a resolution to appoint Arch Liston as a part-time interim administrator for a six-month period in the wake of the firing of Manny Parada.
*A consultant has recommended that Avalon accept the state Department of Community Affairs calculated number of 31 affordable housing units as the borough’s obligation for the period 2025 through 2034.
*Newly elected Stone Harbor Mayor Tim Carney announced that council work sessions and meetings will start at 5 p.m. in 2025 to allow those who work a better opportunity to attend.
*The Middle Township Committee made no changes to its governing body appointments for 2025 at its reorganization meeting Jan. 7: Former Police Chief Chris Leusner was selected by his colleagues to serve another one-year term as mayor, and Theron “Ike” Gandy was chosen to again serve as deputy mayor.
Spout Off of the Week
People complaining how the roads were plowed, take a chill pill and sit down. This was a rare storm, much snow, high wind, cold temps, long time. We don’t have lots of equipment that costs a ton of money just sitting there waiting for years for just this one storm to come. If they did that, you’d all just complain about how come my taxes went up so much? You really want salt? You’ll complain when the front of your lawn dies when the plow threw the salt up. Next! When you see snow? Drive real slow.
Cape May County
