The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) will host public meetings regarding the New Jersey Back Bays Flood Risk Management study today in Ventnor City and tomorrow in Toms River Township.
USACE, in partnership with NJDEP, is conducting a feasibility study for coastal storm risk management problems within the New Jersey Back Bay area, defined as the network of interconnected tidal water bodies located landward of the New Jersey ocean coastline in Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic, Burlington, and Cape May Counties.
The study area includes approximately 950 square miles and nearly 3,400 miles of shoreline. The objective of the study is to investigate problems and solutions to reduce damages from coastal flooding that affects population, critical infrastructure, critical facilities, property and ecosystems.
Some of the measures that will be discussed at the public meetings include structural solutions such as storm surge barriers, tide gates, levees, and floodwalls; non-structural solutions such as elevating homes; and nature-based features such as marsh restoration and the creation of living shorelines, USACE said.
The final plan may also include recommendations of actionable and policy implementable items such as floodplain management and Community Rating System enhancement opportunities.