Garden State Times

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (both-D-N.J.) announced today a combined total of $8,896,682.67 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to mitigate flood risks in the City of Bayonne and in Rutherford, NJ.

“As a coastal state that faces many flooding instances throughout the year, including flash flooding in low-lying, urban areas and flooding due to rising sea levels in our coastal communities, federal financial support is vital to ensuring New Jersey residents and their properties are protected from harm,” said Sen. Menendez. “This nearly $9 million in funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will reduce the impacts of flooding for residents in Bayonne and will allow Bergen County to construct a new floodwall to protect their pump station and further reduce flooding in the area.”

"We must ensure the safety and resilience of our communities in the face of natural disasters,” said Sen. Booker. “These investments in New Jersey’s infrastructure and flood-mitigation measures will protect public health and prevent damage to homes.”

The City of Bayonne will utilize this funding to purchase and install a 500-kilowatt generator and other electrical equipment to mitigate loss of power at the 63rd St. Pumping Station to prevent the overflow of raw sewage into the basements of 59 residences served by this pump station that processes sewage and stormwater.

With this funding, the Bergen County Utilities Authority will construct a 5-foot concrete floodwall around the Joint Meeting wastewater pump station in Rutherford, as well as make improvements to the sewer line to reduce the risk of physical damage and loss of function to the wastewater pump station after a flood event.

Sen. Menendez has long been a leader in the fight to increase flood protections for New Jersey residents. In March, Sen. Menendez joined with Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. to hold a groundbreaking ceremony with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) for the Union Beach flood control project to reduce flooding and better protect the area from rising seas and future catastrophic weather events. In March, Senators Menendez and Kennedy introduced the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Consultant Accountability Act of 2023 to protect homeowners who are victims of natural disasters from working with third parties that are found guilty of property damage assessment fraud.

During a Senate Banking Committee hearing in April, Sen. Menendez emphasized the importance of keeping flood insurance affordable to lower housing costs for working families and highlighted the reintroduction of the bipartisan National Flood Insurance Program Reauthorization and Reform (NFIP-RE) Act coming soon. In the same month, Sens. Menendez, Cory Booker, Kristen Gillibrand and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced the New York-New Jersey Watershed Protection Act to improve water quality and increased flood protections for residents near these vital water resources.

Sen. Menendez has been the leading advocate in Congress for an overhaul of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), since Superstorm Sandy devastated New Jersey 10 years ago. The NFIP-RE Act, which Sen. Menendez plans to reintroduce soon, would extend the program for five years, while implementing a series of sweeping reforms to address the waste, abuse and mismanagement plaguing the system. Sen. Menendez first exposed the problem of widespread lowballing of flood insurance claims during Congressional hearings he chaired in 2014, and then successfully pushed FEMA to reopen every Sandy flood insurance claim for review, which compensated Sandy victims with more than $260 million in additional payments they were initially denied.

Sen. Menendez authored the Superstorm Sandy Relief and Disaster Loan Program Improvement Act, which extended and expanded access to federal disaster loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). His Homeowner’s Flood Insurance Affordability Act was signed into law in 2014 to address skyrocketing rates many Sandy survivors were encountering. In 2013, the Senator shepherded the original $60 billion federal Sandy aid package through Congress.

Original source can be found here.