Landis Avenue in Sea Isle City is swamped by floodwater during a December storm.
A series of extremely high tides in recent weeks left parts of Sea Isle City underwater and once again showed just how vulnerable the low-lying island is to coastal flooding.
But Mayor Leonard Desiderio said Sea Isle plans to fight back against Mother Nature by building stormwater pumping stations that are a centerpiece of the city’s flood-mitigation strategy.
The city is advancing designs for one pumping station that will protect the area surrounding Sea Isle’s $21 million community recreation center, which is under construction along Park Road and is scheduled to open in the autumn of 2025.
The overall area that will be protected near the community center is generally between 42nd and 48th streets, Park Road and Landis Avenue, Desiderio said.
In a report during a City Council meeting on Tuesday, the mayor said the pumping station project will be 100 percent funded by the city.
The city does not yet have an estimated cost for the pumping station or a construction schedule.
“They’re still doing design work. It’s still in the early planning stages,” city spokeswoman Katherine Custer said.
Sea Isle plans to spend $20 million over the next five years for a series of stormwater pumping stations to protect the island from chronic flooding, according to the city’s capital plan.
Pumping stations intercept floodwater and channel it back into the bay much faster than it would normally take to drain off the streets after a coastal storm. They have proved effective in Ocean City, Avalon and other shore communities vulnerable to flooding.
The city's first stormwater pumping station, largely hidden underground, helps to protect a flood-prone area at the bay end of 38th Street.Sea Isle built its first pumping station in 2019 in the flood-prone area at the bay end of 38th Street and Sounds Avenue. The pumping station is largely hidden underground, but the control panel is visible at the top of steps at the end of 38th Street.
Next, Sea Isle will shift its focus on sections of the Landis Avenue corridor often hit by stormwater. In the long term, as many as eight pumping stations are being considered along the Landis Avenue artery from 30th Street to 57th Street, City Business Administrator George Savastano said in an earlier interview.
Although the city plans to fund the pumping station around the community station, it intends to pursue grants to help defray the cost for other projects, Desiderio said.
“Those projects involve stormwater systems that are under the jurisdiction of both Cape May County and the city, and we won’t know until next year whether or not we’re successful in securing grant funds for those projects,” Desiderio told Council at Tuesday’s meeting.
In earlier comments, Savastano said that Sea Isle and Cape May County are discussing the possibility of building new pumping stations in a partnership to share the cost of the projects.
Combined with road and drainage improvements, pumping station projects are a critical piece of Sea Isle’s long-term strategy to fight flooding in low-lying neighborhoods.
