Economic Impact of Hurricane Floyd on New Jersey Assessed
Release Date: May 31, 2000
Release Number: HQ-00-085
Washington, DC -- Recommendations for businesses and state and community officials on how to accelerate the recovery process and create disaster-resistant businesses and jobs are the focus of a report just completed by the Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration. FEMA asked EDA to conduct this assessment of the economic impact of Hurricane Floyd on New Jersey communities.
"Recovering from a disaster provides an opportunity to make wise decisions for the future," said FEMA Director Witt. "This report identified steps to take before a disaster strikes that will limit or prevent damage. That is the focus of FEMA's Project Impact: Building Disaster Resistant Communities."
More than 76,000 residences and 4,000 businesses in the nine disaster declared counties in New Jersey were affected by Hurricane Floyd. The assessment focuses on six communities that were most at risk for long-term negative impacts from the storm: the boroughs of Lodi, Bound Brook and Manville and the cities of Trenton, Passaic and Paterson.
The assessment identified fundamental steps that should be taken to speed the recovery of businesses after a disaster, among them:
- Communities should incorporate mitigation measures in recovery plans, such as developing early flood-warning systems, acquiring sites in areas that are repeatedly flooded, relocating critical facilities outside flood areas and prohibiting unsafe land-use activities.
- Measures should be taken to increase awareness of flood risk and aid the purchase of flood insurance by such actions as tying incentive programs to maintaining flood insurance, making Flood Insurance Rate Maps more conveniently available and providing information about the need for and benefits of flood insurance.
- Communities should streamline procedures for granting zoning and building permits, give purchasing preferences to local businesses, encourage corporate disaster relief efforts and promote successful business recovery experiences.
The complete assessment is also posted in the online library .
Last Modified: Tuesday, 04-Nov-2003 13:35:31