Climate change must be part of planning for future storms, N.J. congressman says
This Feb. 22, 2013 file photo shows two heavily damaged homes on the beach in Mantoloking, N.J., from Superstorm Sandy. (Mel Evans/AP Photo, file)
A year after Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey, one of the state’s congressmen is worried about the potential impact of future storms.
U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, also a scientist, is concerned another storm as severe as Sandy could hit the state.
“For those of us who saw the ferocity of the storm, it’s hard to imagine that we have to get use to thinking of that as the new normal,” he said. “The climate is changing in ways that are deadly and dangerous and costly.”
Improving beaches, roads, pipelines, and the electrical grid will be vital to prepare New Jersey for future storms.
“That means investment in engineering and roads and pipelines and electrical grid,” he said. “It means studying and building the resilience of the littoral and marsh ecosystems.”
Admitting that it will be costly, Holt said the billions of dollars of damage caused by Sandy is a reminder that we’ll have to pay one way or another.
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