By Donald Wittkowski
Flooding, as Sea Isle City’s residents know all too well, is an unfortunate fact of life on the low-lying barrier island sandwiched between the ocean and bays.
However, city officials are in the midst of three initiatives to protect residents and tourists from flooding, particularly in the neighborhoods that are most vulnerable to surging stormwater.
“That is absolutely, if not our highest priority, one of our highest priorities – to address flooding in town,” City Business Administrator George Savastano said.
One new project in the discussion phase is a citywide warning system that would include dozens of flashing signs to let people know when flooding is imminent or has started. The signs would be placed in about a half-dozen flood-prone areas, Savastano explained.
“We’ve had people say, ‘We want to know what’s going on,’” Savastano said of the need for a flood-alert system.
Newly appointed Police Chief Tom McQuillen and City Construction Official Neil Byrne are working on the flood-warning system. A contractor involved in the project is expected to make a presentation to City Council during the governing body’s May 29 meeting.
“It would be a good thing for the community. It’s just a matter of getting everyone on board,” Savastano said. “While it’s a good thing, it’s more signage. Some people like this type of thing, some people don’t.”
McQuillen noted the warning system would give the city the ability to alert people of flooding “at the earliest point,” allowing them to protect their cars before it’s too late.
“It’s sad when visitors or residents don’t realize it’s flooding and they potentially lose their cars to flooding,” McQuillen said. “We want to change that, and be proactive, to come up with a better way of notifying people of the flooding as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
Meanwhile, the city is preparing to go out to bid this month for what will be another flood-fighting measure – its very first pumping station. The pumping station will help remove stormwater from the flood-prone neighborhood on the bay side of 38th Street at Sounds Avenue.
“When it floods, the water sits there for a day or two. Now, it will go away in a couple of hours. In some cases, it will prevent flooding,” Savastano said of the benefits of the new pumping station.
The city’s decision to build a new pumping station in that area follows complaints from homeowners on 38th Street and the adjacent Sounds Avenue about chronic flooding, even during run-of-the mill rainstorms.
Homeowners said a new city drainage pipe that is supposed to flush stormwater into the bay at 38th Street has simply been overwhelmed, allowing flooding to inundate the streets. The new pumping station is expected to correct the problem.
A third new initiative planned by Sea Isle to help ease flooding is a comprehensive, long-range flooding study scheduled to be completed by Aug. 1, Savastano said.
City officials have warned that it will take a huge amount of money to finance a large-scale flooding plan, including the construction of better drainage systems, new pumping stations, dikes and road projects.
The study will look at flooding from a broader, regional perspective, rather than just limiting it to Sea Isle, because that would open up the possibility of securing more public funding to fight the problem.
Sea Isle is collaborating with Cape May County on the study because the county controls major parts of the city’s drainage pipes and other flood-control systems.
Although the study will focus on a long-term strategy, some flood-control measures are underway in Sea Isle or have already been completed, such as beach and dune replenishment projects and new road and drainage improvements.
