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By Steven Rodas
More than two years after Manville, a small borough of 11,000 residents, opens in a new windowwas drenched with 10 inches of rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida, some homeowners in the town are now being told that money to elevate homes is no longer on the table.
Those residents — including everyone in the flood-prone “Lost Valley” neighborhood — must stay and run the risks future storms may bring, whether they pay themselves to elevate or not, or apply for a buyout. Accepting the offer to leave allows New Jersey to purchase the property and turn the land into open green space.
The new state policy, which was opens in a new windowfirst announced last summer, was approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Dec. 18 but some climate activists say they’re just hearing of the change now.
Holly Ganz, a Manville resident and member of opens in a new windowthe New Jersey Organizing Project, which helps residents with housing needs after natural disasters, noted the importance of buyouts.
“However,” Ganz then emphasized, “Manville residents were suddenly told two years after the storm that our only options are to live in unsafe, un-repaired, un-elevated homes, or lose all that we’ve invested into rebuilding and recovery so far.”
State officials said Wednesday roughly 67 homeowners will be directly affected by the policy change, although the area in Manville subject to the change encompasses hundreds of parcels of land. That designated section of Manville, opens in a new windowshown on a map here, includes the entirety of Lost Valley which often floods after intense storms and heavy rainfall.
“Despite the best of intentions, structures elevated in accordance with the municipal ordinance in these areas of high water will not be sufficient for tomorrow’s climate change driven floods,” officials with the state’s Department of Community Affairs (DCA) said.
While the post-Ida policy only applies to Manville, it may be a precursor for what other areas in New Jersey will confront in the future as climate change spurs stronger, more frequent storms and relentless downpours in relatively short periods of time. Natural disasters and extreme weather — whether in the form of powerful hurricanes, growing wildfires or impossibly frigid or scorching temperatures — will only keep complicating questions about how people navigate where they can live.
“First and foremost, public safety is the primary driver of the policy,” Lisa Ryan, a spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Community Affairs, said in a statement Thursday.
“For a house to be safely elevated in high-risk flood zones, the state needs to be sure that the residents are able to safely evacuate from dangerous fast-moving flood waters,” Ryan said. “Unfortunately, in the areas of Manville subject to this policy, there is a demonstrated inability to safely evacuate people during flood events like Hurricane Ida.”
Manville Mayor Richard Onderko said Friday he felt the policy was suddenly “dropped” on the town without proper consultation with local flood plain experts. He believes some properties should continue to have paid elevations as an option.
The mayor, who has submitted an Open Public Records Act request to inquire how areas placed under the policy were determined, added that millions of dollars in relief has yet to be provided and roughly 60 buyout applicants are still waiting for help.
“Over two years since Ida hit in September 2021 and I’m still waiting for aid opens in a new windowafter a presidential visit,” Onderko said. “I’m still fighting the battle for the people of my town. I have busted up foundations … a person living in a hotel that can’t get back into his house. It’s just not fair to the people that live here. Disaster recovery is a disaster.”
Between October and November of last year, public comments were accepted on the policy.
In its own commentary, the Department of Community Affairs pointed to all the ways Ida exposed local flood dangers and the inadequacy of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) projections when it comes to what parts of Manville must deal with.
For example engineering data, the department said, did not place the northeastern part of Lost Valley in a FEMA flood zone at all, yet during Ida the section saw 2 to 3 feet of floodwater. The state agency also highlighted that the Lost Valley only has two evacuation points at the Kyle Street tunnel and Bridge Street, which become impassable when 3 feet or more of water accumulates.
Several homes and structures in Manville also exploded due to fires and gas leaks resulting from Ida stormwaters.
“Homeowners who elect to self-fund elevations will not be prevented from doing so,” DCA officials said.
Still, three major flooding events have borne down on Manville in just over two decades. The department said those storms have endangered homeowners and now require “town-wide solutions to protect residents and, where necessary, remove them entirely from dangerous areas.”
Amanda Devecka-Rinear, executive director of the New Jersey Organizing Project and the founding director of the New Jersey Resource Project, non-profit advocacy groups that help storm survivors, called the policy change in essence forcing “mandatory buyouts” onto people in Manville.
Devecka-Rinear and Adam Gordon, executive director of nonprofit opens in a new windowFair Share Housing Center wrote to the Department of Housing and Urban Development in November that the policy required storm survivors to either:
- “Go through a slow and dysfunctional Blue Acres buyout process which has thus far failed to relocate families quickly and safely.”
- “Pay for our repairs and elevation out of pocket, which is simply not possible for working families who have been struggling for two years after the storm.”
- “Remain in our homes, with varying degrees of mitigation and repair, likely even more vulnerable to the next storm.”
The Department of Community Affairs, which said it worked in tandem with the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), did not modify the policy after public comments were sent in.
Manville residents will only be eligible for buyouts under certain qualifications, including being in a “disaster risk area.” That includes either the Lost Valley neighborhood or somewhere that experienced 5.5 feet or more of water.
To read more about the policy visit opens in a new windowhttps://dep.nj.gov/blueacres/flood-risk-reduction-policy-manville/.
