FEMA authorizes $34 million for sea wall

By KENNY WALTER
Staff Writer

The federal government has authorized a sea wall that will span both Sea Bright and Monmouth Beach in an effort to protect the two municipalities that were hit hard by superstorm Sandy.

Sea Bright Mayor Dina Long said the repairs and extension of the sea wall would protect the borough from future storms.

“During superstorm Sandy, we saw how important it was to deal with the gaps on the sea wall because the gaps in the sea wall acted as a funnel for the storm surge,” she said. “So dealing with that gap area was one of our number one mitigation projects.

“We see that as a critically important project for Sea Bright to be resilient in the future.”

The project includes patching the damaged parts of the wall and extending the existing wall where the gaps are prevalent.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) authorized the $34 million project last month, with more than $28 million coming from a federal grant and the remaining 10 percent being funded by the two municipalities.

The project will be completely overseen by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Coastal Engineering Bureau.

“I think our role is to say thank you and be good stewards for what’s on the outside of the wall,” Long said.

According to Long, the DEP will construct a temporary steel wall in 2016, while preparing bid specifications for the final project. She said the hope is to have construction begin at the end of 2016.

Long also said it is beneficial that both Sea Bright and Monmouth Beach are part of the project.

“By combining the Sea Bright and Monmouth Beach projects together we were able to create an economy of scale that made the project worth the investment,” she said. “You consider that the sea wall is continuous so it makes sense that the project is together.” Borough engineer Jaclyn Flor previously said the sea wall limited the damage to the borough during superstorm Sandy.

“Look at what happened in our downtown, where the sea wall was substandard and not at the proper elevation,” she said.

“In Sea Bright, that sea wall really acted as a dune system. It was a hard system that stopped the waves from impacting the areas where it was at a proper elevation.”