For a Hurricane’s Direct Hit, We Aren’t Prepared

ANALYSIS
Cape May County is an incomparable place to be, and those of us who live and vacation here drink in its beauty, its beaches, its weather, its breezes, and its magnificent man-made attractions. While we are living this dream, it is imprudent to lose sight of the fact that as adults, we have to be responsive to potentially adverse weather conditions.
Many things in life may occasionally require our circumspection. When we get into our cars, we know to be careful so we don’t become one of the almost 40,000 people who die on the roads annually.
There are occasional hurricanes, which make their way up the coast that have the potential to be deadly. We can pretend it is otherwise, but we do so at our own peril.
One might ask, if the weather becomes threatening, hasn’t government thought it all through, won’t we be told in time to get out? The reality is, in a direct hit there is no way for us all to depart.
If a major storm develops down south and heads up the coast, say on a weekend in August, it will be several days before it can be known if that storm represents a threat to our lives. In the meantime, Cape May County beaches could be covered with untold thousands of us relaxing in the sunshine.
Because most of these storms turn out to sea, or make land-fall south of here, and therefore don’t constitute a threat, our emergency management at the state and county level will not advise us to leave the county.
By time the storm draws close enough to us for the profes-sionals to determine with greater certainty that we might be in danger, there is just not enough time for all of us to leave. Our roads are totally inadequate to handle such large num-bers in mass exodus.
And there are other complicating factors; in a major storm, our roads will flood. The Garden State Parkway is low and runs along the coast. Routes 9 and 47 have a number of spots which flood and become impassible in extreme weather con-ditions. Further, the traffic, which makes it out of the county, will be backed up because, as Cape May County Emergency Management Director Frank McCall said, “All other coastal counties are also on the roads.”
In the past we have discussed this vulnerability with state Sen. Jeff Van Drew, who said plainly, “People are going to die.” This concern has not left his mind, as shown by his recent legislation to create a coordinated state-wide evacuation plan.
As if to underscore the gravity of the threat, McCall said in a recent phone conversation, “We have a mass casualty mortuary plan.”
So what do we do? Back to the cars analogy: because we could die in a car accident does not mean that we don’t drive in cars. Because we could die in a hurricane does not mean we avoid the ocean, but it should mean, as McCall stresses, “People should have emergency plans; planning starts with the individual.”
The message is clear; under our current infrastructural limitations, one should prepare for extreme weather (for tips see http://www.ready.nj.gov/plan/hurricane-before.html), be wary of hurricanes, and leave before the roads become overcrowded. McCall quotes experts in this field, saying, “PBS&J referred to Cape May County as the sixth most difficult place to evacuate.”
Looking to the future, there are measures which government can and should do to mitigate catastrophe. For Avalonians who cannot help themselves, Avalon has put a plan in place. McCall said “Avalon has done the wise thing. Others should do as Avalon has done.”
And for the majority of citizens who are self-reliant, our government has left a number of things undone, and we need to encourage them to get busy doing them. They include:
• Road improvements:
• Complete Route 55
• Raise the road heights to above flood levels
• Mass transit planning. Draw up and field test alternate evacuation plans for when roads are gridlocked, using:
• School busses
• Ferries
• Military aircraft to and from the Cape May County air-port
• Trains
• Creation of a Centralized Command Facility: To coordinate a systematic evacuation, develop a county-wide central dispatch system for police and emergency personnel. This system will enable us to coordinate planning within Cape May County and with other counties whose evacuation might interfere with us.
Up until hurricane Katrina, government has said, the threat exists, it will happen one day, but the hurdles to fix it are too monumental. With Marty Pagliughi’s steps in Avalon, and Van Drew’s nascent legislation, we are starting to see a crack in that thick ice.