After a summer marked by heavy rain, flash flooding and costly drainage repairs across Bergen County, a new Rutgers University study offers a glimpse of what could lie ahead: more flooded roads, more travel disruptions and growing challenges as sea levels continue to rise.
In the next 75 years, Bergen County, along with other South Jersey counties, will see an increase in coastal flooding under future sea-level-rise scenarios, according to a research brief released by Rutgers in July.
The research report, released in July, focused on the current and future coastal flood inundation of roadways in New Jersey. The research brief was written by Jonathan DeLura, a senior research specialist with the Center for Urban Policy Research, the Bloustein School for Planning and Public Policy and the New Jersey Climate Change Resource Center.
A new research brief by Jonathan Delura, Senior Research Specialist, Center for Urban Policy Research for the New Jersey Climate Change Research Center details a novel approach for estimating the extent and depth of roadway inundation using light detection and ranging (LiDAR) derived roadway surface elevations. A desktop analysis was conducted utilizing this approach to provide a first order assessment of coastal flooding impacts under current and future flood scenarios for New Jersey.