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NJ Office of Emergency Management
Colonel Rick Fuentes Major Jeffrey M. Mottley
Superintendent, New Jersey State Police
State Director of Emergency Management
Commanding Officer
NJSP Emergency Management Section

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Mary Goepfert (609) 963-6818 October 22, 2014

CHRISTIE ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES $32 MILLION IN HAZARD MITIGATION GRANTS FOR HISTORICALLY FLOOD-PRONE COMMUNITIES

Funding Advances and Strengthens Flood Readiness and Prevention
Efforts in Neptune Township and Wayne

trenton - Christie Administration officials today announced that New Jersey will receive $31 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) Grant funding to acquire, or “buy-out” approximately 114 severe repetitive loss properties in flood-ravaged areas of Wayne.  The FEMA FMA Grant was the largest awarded to any State during the FY13 grant cycle.  An additional grant from the Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) Assistance Program in the amount of $1 million was approved to fund the Alberta Basin Drainage Project in Neptune Township.  

“The properties in Wayne have experienced repetitive flood losses,” said State Police Superintendent and State Director of Emergency Management Colonel Rick Fuentes. 
“Acquisitions represent a permanent solution to breaking the cycle of flooding and allowing homeowners to finally move out of harm’s way.  The Neptune Drainage Project represents environmentally sound infrastructure improvements that will prevent repetitive loss conditions.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s recently approved the 2014 New Jersey State Hazard Mitigation Plan. The approval enables the State to continue its future eligibility to receive FEMA disaster and hazard mitigation assistance for the residents of the state through 2017.   Wayne Township has experienced major flood events over a period of years.  The FMA  Grant will cover 100 percent of the costs related to the acquisitions.  The homeowner’s participation in an acquisition measure is voluntary.

In Neptune Township, the FEMA PDM Grant will fund 75 percent of the cost of the drainage project, with a 25 percent match to be contributed by the Township.  The project activities will include de-silting, installing gate valves at both the east and west outfalls of the Alberta Basin and upgrades to the downstream drainage structures to meet capacity for a 25-year storm event.

Floods have been and continue to be the most frequent, destructive, and costly natural hazard facing the State of New Jersey. The large majority of the State’s damage reported for major disasters is associated with floods. For more information about reducing risk from floods, visit ready.nj.gov or www.floodsmart.gov.

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