Hurricane Sandy

Point Boro Resident Among Those Protesting FEMA Flood Maps at DEP Hearing

NJ Department of Environmental Protection holds public hearing in Long Branch

A huge crowd came to Long Branch City Hall for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) public hearing to protest the potential adoption of FEMA's advisory base flood elevation (ABFE) maps as the new elevation standard for the the state. The crowd on Thursday night was mostly comprised of many unhappy homeowners from around the state impacted by Hurricane Sandy. "The thought of increasing flood insurance premiums into the tens of thousands of dollars is daunting," Toms River resident Margaret Quinn said. Quinn, who lives in the Silverton section of Toms River, said her house was more than 50 percent damaged. She, like so many others, has been displaced by the hurricane and is now faced with rebuilding questions and …

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Hurricane Sandy

Friday Deadline for Point Beach Hazard Mitigation Grant Applications

Applications must go to town which submits to Ocean County

  Any Sandy-flooded residents in Point Beach who want to apply for a Hazard Mitigation Grant have to submit applications by Friday. The funding is to help residents afford the cost of elevating their homes to heights called for in the Advisory Base Flood Elevation maps issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in December, said Lori Thompson, grants manager at T & M Associates, the town's engineering firm, at Tuesday night's Point Beach Council meeting. Friday is the deadline for residents and property owners in Point Beach to submit their applications to Thompson, who is accepting them for the town. The town then has a March 22 deadline to submit them to Ocean County. The county will submit applications to the state Office …

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Elevating Homes After Sandy: 'Wait-and-See Approach Is Prudent'

For owners of homes not substantially damaged by the storm, waiting for final flood maps and flood insurance rates could help in making decision.

  Editor's Note: This story was written by our Ocean City Local Editor and we wanted to share these thoughts with our readers in the greater Point Pleasant Borough-Beach area. Point Pleasant Patch is continuing to reach out to FEMA and other government officials to get more information about how flooded residents should proceed as they wait for FEMA's flood maps to become preliminary for this area, which may be in August or September. Thanks for continuing to read Patch. With a flood map still in flux and flood insurance premium increases still not set, property owners may have too little information to make an informed decision on whether to rebuild their homes at a higher elevation, according to state officials and local insurance agents…

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Hurricane Sandy

SBA Loans for Businesses, Even if They Didn't Flood

If your business lost revenue because of Superstorm Sandy, apply for an SBA Loan

  Did your business in Point Beach, Point Borough or elswhere in the Jersey Shore region lose revenue because of Superstorm Sandy? If so, you should apply for a Small Business Administration (SBA) loan, even if your business was not physically damaged or flooded by the storm, according to an SBA official who addressed a crowd of 450 to 500 people in Point Pleasant Beach on Wednesday night. Those businesses may be eligible for "Economic Injury Loans," Garth MacDonald, an SBA public affairs specialist, said to an overflow crowd at G. Harold Antrim Elementary School. And any owner of a business, home or car that was flooded or damaged physically should also apply for the low-interest loans, MacDonald said. He said there are loans available …

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JCP&L Boasts Improved Power Outage Maps

Utility company says new maps will also be available via smart phone and other mobile devices.

FirstEnery Corp., which operates Jersey Central Power & Light, launched new maps on its website Thursday that will allow New Jersey residents to search for power outages by state, county and zip code. The Ohio-based utility company said in a release that the new color-coded maps include links to allow customers to report service interruptions and provide tables showing county-by-county outage totals. FirstEnergy added that the maps are accessible via smart phones and other mobile devices. The maps also boast prominent alerts with links to outage-related news, safety reminders and other information, FirstEnergy said. Later in the year, the maps are expected to include more detailed estimated restoration time during large-scale weather …

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