The dire consequences of climate change are arriving sooner than previously thought, and New Jersey is acutely vulnerable. New Jersey has more people living within major coastal flood areas than any other state except for Louisiana and Florida. (Crowell, et al., “An estimate of the U.S. population living in 100-year coastal flood hazard areas,”  Journal of Coastal Research, 26(2), March 2010.) Making matters worse, New Jersey’s coastal waters are rising faster than the global average, which scientists expect will exacerbate the impacts of storm surge and flooding experienced during major coastal storms and intensifying hurricanes. (Georgetown Climate Ctr. & Rutgers Climate Inst., “Understanding New Jersey’s Vulnerability to Climate Change,” https://njadapt.rutgers.edu/docman-lister/working-briefs/75-nj-vulnerabilities/file.)

Even as climate change impacts shift from the realm of the abstract to the concrete, coastal communities and other flood-prone areas face intense development pressure.  As became clear in wake of Hurricane Harvey, FEMA’s flood maps are subject to piecemeal revisions which can pave the way for unsound development that benefits builders, but harms the public. Schwartz, et al., “Builders Said Their Homes Were Out of a Flood Zone. Then Harvey Came.,” The New York Times (Dec. 2, 2017). Hurricane Sandy, the most destructive hurricane ever recorded in New Jersey, damaged or destroyed 346,000 homes, displaced more than 116,000 people and killed 37 people. In the coming decades, major coastal storms like Sandy will no longer be outliers.

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