Know Your Zone, Monmouth County’s Coastal Evacuation Campaign

Meghan Leavey, GISP/AICP/PP GIS Services Manager Monmouth County Division of Planning, GIS Monmouth County Multi-Jurisdictional Coastal Flood Evacuation Plan

…has been developed to provide flood monitoring, warning, evacuation and response guidance for major coastal flood events resulting from both tropical cyclones and extra-tropical storm events (nor’easters) for Monmouth County and all of its affected municipalities. A tiered plan has been developed based upon established Sea, Lake and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) model inundation areas in order to assist in evacuation decision making and proper allocation of high water response resources. About Monmouth County

. Developed sub-urban coastal county located in New Jersey . Population: 630,380 . Housing Units: 240,000 . Natural Hazards: Hurricanes, tropical storms, nor’easters . has been identified as the greatest weather related threat to the County Coastal Flood Threat Recognition

. Advisory Systems . iNWS . Stevens Flood Advisory System . NOS Station Sandy Hook . Times (Lead Times) . Non-tropical (nor’easter) . – 48 hours . Coastal Flood Warning – 24 to 36 hours . Tropical/extra-tropical (tropical storms, hurricanes) . Tropical Storm/Hurricane/ Watch – 48 hours . Tropical Storm/Hurricane/Storm Surge Warning – 36 hours . Stevens Flood Advisory System – 72 hours Flood Hazards & Water Levels SLOSH Modeling & Inundation Mapping . Sea, Lake, and Overland Surge from Hurricanes (SLOSH) modeling conducted by NOAA . 22 geographic points throughout the County which represent major bodies of water and affected tributaries . Maximum of the Maximum Envelop of High Water (MOM) . Inundation Zones . Generate a spatially comprehensive, but first- order approximation of flooding vulnerability across the entire northeastern Atlantic coastal region Monmouth County Flood Warning & Response Plan

. Evacuation decision making is influenced by a combination of factors, including, but not limited to: . population affected (seasonal, permanent) . water temperatures (summer, winter) . time of day . additional weather hazards (winds, icing) . forecast uncertainty (track, strength, duration, timing, etc.) . duration of the surge . timing with astronomical tide levels . lead time available . consistency with other evacuation orders . Coastal Flood Evacuation Decision Tree Getting the Word Out…

. Major coastal flood events have extended lead times of 48-hours or more . Allows for use of radio and television media outlets as well as social media . At the discretion of the County Emergency Management Coordinator, and/or designee, the Emergency Alert System (EAS) as well as Cable TV override system may be activated by request to the State Regional Operations Intelligence Center (ROIC) . Know Your Zone . Public Campaign . Newest addition to Communication Tools . Communicating geographic evacuation zones via web portal …is a public education campaign implemented by the Monmouth County Office of Emergency Management to inform the residents, businesses and visitors of Monmouth County of the new hurricane evacuation zones and their vulnerability to storm surge. The Know Your Zone campaign was developed in partnership with the municipal emergency management coordinators within the coastal towns and is based on the threat, strength direction and forecasted storm surge of an impending hurricane, nor’easter or other coastal flooding event. The campaign also reflects the National Hurricane Center’s (NHC) decision to separate the association of storm surge inundation from the category of storm. Next Steps… We have: A Tool for the Public We need: A Tool for the Professionals

. Adding in Population and Building/Housing Information . Adding in Shelters and other emergency service locations . Build in tools and create operations dashboard for OEM managers to use before, during and after coastal flooding events . Add in “Register Ready” and other “vulnerable population” data . Expand these tools to cover other natural and manmade disaster events Thank You!

Meghan Leavey, GISP, AICP, PP Monmouth County, Division of Planning 1 East Main Street, Freehold, NJ 07728 (732) 431-7460 [email protected] http://www.mcsonj.org/knowyourzone/

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