Towns seek grant for flood warning system
Nine municipalities seek $100K to equip five bridges
BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer

Little Silver

LITTLE SILVER - The borough will join with several other local communities to apply for a $100,000 grant from the National Weather Service (NWS) that would fund Automated Flood Warning Systems (AFWS) for five area bridges.

Mayor Suzanne Castleman said Tuesday that the maximum grant proposal the NWS accepts is for $100,000, and since nine towns are participating she hopes to get the full amount.

"The information collected will be available through our town's Web site," she said. "It's an early warning system for our residents."

According to the resolution passed by the Borough Council Monday night, Little Silver will join with Monmouth Beach, Sea Bright, Middletown, Rumson, Fair Haven, Long Branch, Oceanport and Highlands in applying for the grant to fund the AFWS.

Oceanport is acting as the lead agency in applying for the grant.

The bridges that are included in the project are the Highway 36 Highlands Bridge, the Sea Bright/Rumson Bridge, the Oceanic Bridge, the Pleasure Bay Bridge and the Gooseneck bridges, all of which span the Shrewsbury River.

"This will really give us accurate readings as far as what kind of flooding we'll have in the area," Castleman said.

According to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Weather Service Web site, "Many different integrated AFWS are used in many U.S. communities to alert officials about the threat of flooding, as well as for environmental monitoring, water resource management, fire risk assessment, and homeland security."

According to the NOAA Web site, the most common type of gauge is a radio reporting tipping bucket gauge, that reports in real time, rainfall in increments of 0.04 inches.

Castleman said that each year, the NWS awards up to $400,000 in grants nationally.

According to the NOAA Web site, several counties in northern New Jersey have AFWS in place that send updated information to the site on a regular basis. At present, there are no areas in Monmouth County that have a AFWS in place that reports to the NOAA Web site.

According to NOAA, applications for the 2007 round of grants must be submitted by Oct. 31.