Signs mark a coastal evacuation route. Monmouth County and each of its 53 municipalities will be required by the state to prepare emergency/disaster response operations for the development of a regional, coordinated emergency/disaster response plan for the coastal area.

Plans must include procedures for evacuating residents, including those with special needs, livestock and domesticated animals, hospitals and health care facilities, evacuation routes and temporary and long-term shelters.

The state mandate, which applies to all counties and towns in New Jersey, is included in amendments to the state’s emergency management regulations approved by the state Assembly and Senate and signed by Gov. Chris Christie on Jan. 17. The amendments are in line with recommendations of the Assembly Coastal New Jersey Evacuation Task Force.

“Evacuation is a public protective action that does require a lot of support to be able to successfully carry it out,” Mary Goepfert, spokeswoman for the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management (OEM) said on Jan. 25. “In order to be able to tell people to evacuate, you do have to have these routes pre-established, you have to have the traffic pattern analyzed, you have to have law enforcement support in place, you have to have all of that.”

Navesink River waters flood the Monmouth Boat Club in Red Bank after Hurricane Irene in August 2011. “Evacuation is not something that is taken lightly, it is something that communities work on, counties work on, the state works on as a partnership.”

The purpose of bill A-3224/S-264, is: “to increase public awareness, provide for the assessment of certain needs, coordinate emergency response efforts and improve the level of emergency preparedness for a catastrophic event or natural disaster.”

“The development of all plans shall be coordinated with the emergency operations plans of the state, county and neighboring municipalities to ensure a regional coordinated response and the efficient use of resources,” the bill states.

“We are essentially amending the Emergency Management Act,” said Goepfert last week. “The first thing it does is permit counties and municipalities to establish and act as a functional special-needs registry.

According to the bill, the state will also adopt a State Emergency Operations Plan including rules, regulations and guidelines that would be reviewed and updated at least every two years.

The plan would be developed in consultation with the Department of Agriculture to support the needs of individuals with an animal under their care, including domestic livestock, domesticated animals and service animals.

The plan will also be developed in conjunction with the Department of Health and Senior Services to provide a coordinated statewide evacuation strategy for all hospitals and other health care facilities and provide alternative sources of care for evacuated patients and proposed sites of temporary shelter.

The bill requires that each county establish a central registry for residents with special needs who require additional assistance provided to them during an emergency that will be maintained by the county office of emergency management. Michael Oppegaard, acting coordinator of the county Office of Emergency Management, said he would be meeting with the state to get a clear understanding of the bill’s requirements.

“We are going to get some direction from the state Office of Emergency Management as for what they are requesting from us,” he said. “Our plan is to work with them and follow their lead to make any adjustments to the system that’s required.”

Another provision in the bill is for the state to develop a program for communicating with residents during hurricanes.

“It requires the state OEM to develop a hurricane awareness program, and there is certain content that is required in the program,” Goepfert said. “That is something that we are already doing; we do hurricane awareness.

The bill requires that the hurricane awareness program include notification to the public about appropriate evacuation routes, alternative methods of evacuation other than a personal motor vehicle, personal evacuation kit information and any other necessary information. Goepfert said the state will expand the use of social media during emergency situations, noting that the state OEM’s Facebook page increased subscribers by 10 times during 2011’s Hurricane Irene.

“We see this as an opportunity to take the lessons learned from Irene and work in conjunction with our county partners and improve our plan,” she said.

Oppegaard said Hurricane Irene was the first time the county used social media to disseminate emergency information to the public.

“We tested social media for the first time during that event,” he said. “It was our first crack at using social media during an emergency event. We are in the process of developing a plan to integrate it into our emergency operations in the future.” Another provision in the bill includes identifying and expanding the current locations that may serve as temporary and longterm shelters.

“There are some elements in there where when new schools are built, they should be built to the standard we use as mass-care shelters,” Goepfert said. “It does require a survey of shelter locations, but again, that is something that is already going on anyway.”

A commission composed of representatives of the OEM, the Department of Health and Senior Services, the Department of Community Affairs and the Department of Human Services will be created to analyze possible shelter locations, including elementary and secondary school buildings.

Oppegaard explained the bill’s guidelines for a shelter.

“It would be built with the guidance that FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] has for shelters,” he said. “What they are looking at is wind-resistant glass, storm shutters, generators, feeding capabilities,” he added. “There is a whole FEMA guide for what they are looking for when you are designing a shelter.”

Also during an evacuation, the Department of Transportation and the N.J. State Police would implement a lane-reversal strategy on the Garden State Parkway.

Goepfert said that the bill mainly puts into law some of the programs that the OEM has already taken on in recent years.

However, there are a few provisions that are new to the state.

“This is something that is new, to work in conjunction with the counties to identify infrastructure that would need a power generator,” she said. “That law is new, but that is an effort that has been launched.”

Goepfert said hurricane season starts on June 1, but the state doesn’t usually get hit with the storms until late August.

According to Oppegaard, the county is working on revising evacuation routes, and he expects a new plan to be in place by hurricane season.

“One of our initiatives this year going into hurricane season is to take a look at a study that we participated in,” he said. “Probably we are going to reevaluate the routes we have.

“It is our intention that we will have some adjustments to the evacuation routes before August.”

Goepfert explained that the provisions in the bill are applicable for most emergency situations, including hurricanes, blizzards and other disaster situations. Goepfert said that information on local evacuation routes could be found online at http://www.ready.nj.gov/.

“What we find with emergency management is that people pay the most attention to it when they need it,” Goepfert said. “What our challenge is, is to make sure we are at the forefront with public information when these things happens.

“We are going to use all communication tools at our disposal,” she added.

Oppegaard said that the law would ultimately help the government keep citizens safe during times of emergency.

“I applaud the legislators for taking such proactive [measures] in emergency management and for helping us protect the lives of the citizens,” he said.