READER'S WRITE

Preparing NJ for Catastrophe

While hurricane forecasters are near unanimous in predicting that the upcoming North American hurricane season is not likely to be as devastating as the 2005 season, they are equally certain that the decade to come will feature more ferocious and frequent hurricane activity than we have seen in years. 

The northeast, and specifically New Jersey, in the view of nearly all of the forecasters, is long overdue and very likely to be the site where one of those storms makes landfall. This is a frightening prospect because New Jersey is exposed and unprotected for the ravages of a catastrophic storm.

We must take immediate and comprehensive steps to be better prepared and protected for the inevitable day that the next big storm blows through the Garden State.

The destruction that a major storm would wreak on New Jersey is not limited to expensive beachfront properties or to homes in coastal communities. Indeed, some of the worst devastation that we have seen following even minor tropical storms has been in central New Jersey communities like Manville and Bound Brook, up north in Passaic County or along the Delaware River in Burlington and Mercer counties.

Hurricane modelers have indicated that a Category 1 hurricane – that is, the weakest of all hurricanes – that makes landfall at Asbury Park would flood Newark Airport.  A Category 5 hurricane would put parts of Newark itself under water.

Hurricanes don’t discriminate; they wipe out everything in their path.  Hurricane Katrina inflicted her wrath on the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless. A replay of the Category 4 storm that hit Cape May in 1821 would destroy stately mansions on the beach as well as urban tenements. The Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944, which completely leveled Long Beach Island, would today cause damages in the tens of billions of dollars.

It would be delusional to think that this won’t, at some point, happen again.  Every bit of scientific data says it will.

We need better homeowner education about storm-proofing and retrofitting vulnerable properties. Making improvements to windows, doors and roofs, can make all the difference in the world when a hurricane strikes.

Homeowners must learn that a catastrophe plan involves more than closing the windows and bringing in the dog.  Families need to know where they are going if a hurricane strikes and how they are getting there.  Everyone needs to know the emergency telephone number they will use if family members get separated in the chaos of catastrophe.

Our first responders need a more stable source of funds for training and equipment.  Local governments are under incredible pressure to spend money on more immediate needs than on emergency programs that are rarely called upon.  But when they are called to action, it is literally a matter of life and death.

Finally, homeowners must look at their insurance coverage and make sure that their policies will provide the financial resources they will need to rebuild, repair and recover in the aftermath of a catastrophic storm.

I am deeply concerned that homeowner education, first responder funding and insurance coverage are all insufficient to meet the challenges of a truly catastrophic storm. These challenges can best be met by a private-public partnership that recognizes that there is a public obligation to protect our citizens and a private obligation to act responsibly.

I have introduced legislation, the New Jersey Consumer Catastrophe Preparedness and Protection Act, which would create a privately funded state catastrophe fund that would stand behind the private insurance market to ensure that claims would be paid in the event of a genuinely catastrophic storm. The deposits and interest earnings of the insurer revenues that are placed in the fund would be tax free, like an IRA, and would grow year after year.

All of the deposits in the account, as well as the vast majority of the interest earnings, would be used exclusively to help pay claims following a storm so devastating that total losses exceed the amount of money that is available in the private market. 

A portion of the interest earnings would be statutorily dedicated to create a stable and dependable source of funds for consumer education and for county and municipal first responder, emergency planning and emergency response programs.

In addition to creating the fund, improving homeowner education and enhancing first responder funding, the bill would also protect consumers against post-catastrophe price gouging and other unscrupulous acts.

This legislation would fundamentally shift our approach to catastrophes from reactive to proactive; from after-the-fact responses to early preparation and preparedness.  The time to refocus our efforts is now, before the next catastrophe strikes. 

Mike Panter is an Assemblyman representing New Jersey’s 12th Legislative District (Monmouth/Mercer).  He is vice-chairman of the Assembly Financial Institutions Committee.