Obama declares New Jersey a disaster area

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President Obama has declared New Jersey a disaster area, hours before Hurricane Sandy is expected to make landfall in South Jersey. Flooding from this morning’s high tide exceeded major levels throughout the region, nearing 8.3 feet in Atlantic City and 8.8 feet in Cape May, tying a record set in 1985 from Hurricane Gloria. Atlantic City authorities have made numerous water rescues in the city as residents, particularly in the Inlet section, Back Maryland and near Gardner’s Basin found their homes flooded with water at least three feet deep in places. Gov. Chris Christie ordered the state to close the Garden State Parkway south of the Atlantic City Expressway (Exit 38) due to flooding along the road and at numerous exits. Roads into barrier islands also are under water and some residents who stayed on barrier islands now are reconsidering their decisions. Brigantine Police told residents in a news release that they may have a brief window this afternoon to escape the island, but that was not certain. About 70 percent of the residents there stayed despite a mandatory evacuation order, police said. Police told residents that they need to prepare to shelter in place for the duration of the storm. Sandy still has winds of 85 mph and a continued strengthening of the system means it will be the most intense storm of the modern era to make landfall in the Northeast United States, according to the National Weather Service. The tide at Atlantic City remained at more than 8 feet, which is the threshold for major flooding, for more than an hour and a continued increase of onshore wind speeds may mean that water might not drop very far in the back bays, the weather service said. Forecasters have likened the effects of Sandy to those of the famous March Storm of 1962, which lasted five successive high tides. Reports of the ocean breaching dunes are increasing, including on Long Beach Island and in Cape May. Atlantic City patrol officers are working 12-hour shifts, driving Public Works trucks to navigate the city's streets. Fairmount and Arctic avenues were impassible, police said. Police and fire personnel will continue to help with rescues, Public Safety Director Willie Glass said. Rather than report to the Cape May County Police Academy today, the city's eight police recruits reported to the police compound to assist in whatever way they are needed, police said. “We’re breaking new ground here. (The water) will go places it never has gone before,” said Gary Szatkowski, a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, Burlington County. “No one has seen it in their lifetime.” Gov. Chris Christie asked President Barack Obama on Sunday for a pre-landfall disaster declaration, which would help speed up relief efforts through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Christie also mobilized the National Guard to assist local authorities. FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said on a morning conference call that the agency already is mobilizing supplies and personnel to begin the relief effort as soon as conditions allow, but warned that residents throughout the region, including those inland, will contend with extended power outages and need to be prepared to be on their own for three days. Transportation throughout the state also will be at a standstill as NJ Transit suspended all operations, as did private bus carriers. Other than essential emergency personnel, nearly all state, local and county offices, along with courts and schools, are closed Monday and likely Tuesday. Atlantic City Electric warned that outages could take days to restore and the utility would not be issuing restoration time estimates until the preliminary damage assessment is conducted, which won’t occur until the storm has passed. Forecasters predict up to 12 inches of rain could fall across South Jersey and inland flooding could be extensive, especially along major river systems. On Sunday evening, buoys in the Atlantic Ocean recorded wave heights nearing 40 feet, and forecasters predicted waves near shore could reach 16 feet, with breakers on shore reaching up to 12 feet high. Szatkowski told residents who were thinking of staying to talk to anyone who lived through the March Storm of 1962 and ask whether they’d live through that same storm again. He wrote in a heart-felt plea to residents along the shore to consider loved ones and that if they thought he overhyped the storm, that they could call him Friday to yell at him. “Think about the emergency responders who will be unable to reach you when you make the panicked phone call to be rescued,” he wrote. “Think about the rescue/recovery teams who will rescue you if you are injured or recover your remains if you do not survive.” Ann Kooperman, who was 10 years old during the 1962 storm and lived on the bay side of North Tallahassee Avenue in Atlantic City at the time, said she is staying at her Ventnor Heights home that is directly on the Intracoastal Waterway. Kooperman’s husband, Steve, built the house at an elevation of 14 feet, so she is not concerned about water in the house. “My daughter asked us to come over (to Egg Harbor Township) and even cleaned a room for us. I thought it’s just going to be as bad over there with the trees. I’m more afraid of the trees than I am of flooding,” Kooperman said. “I’m a born and bred bay rat.” However, Kooperman said, if she were living on the beach block, her plans would be different: “If I was on the beach block, I’d be long gone.” While building codes and beach replenishment have added a level of strength to the islands’ infrastructure in places since 1962, the sea level also has risen about six inches and, Szatkowski warned, no building standard could stand up to the erosive power of the water if it begins to cut into the island and creates a new inlet, as occurred on Long Beach Island in 1962. “Even the best constructed home, if that’s where Mother Nature decides to start scouring a new inlet, that’s the danger when you get that much water moving,” he said. “You’re going to see some erosion beyond anything you can imagine.