Since Superstorm Sandy, the City of Hoboken, New Jersey has endured several other severe floods. Now, Hoboken has teamed up with neighboring Jersey City and Weehawken to implement a water-management strategy to protect all three coastal communities. The plan to redesign the cities has four parts: resist, delay, store, and discharge.

To resist rising sea levels, the plan is to provide a barrier against storm surge without limiting access to the waterfront. For example, a seawall to keep rising oceans from flooding the city can also include a public boathouse, with access to the shore.

Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer explains the second part of the plan.

Zimmer: “We’re trying to delay the water as much as possible from going down into the sewer system.”

That water will then be temporarily stored in places like parks until the drainage system can handle it. Then a water pump will discharge the stored water into the system.
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While the final details of the flood protection plan are still being determined, Hoboken has already started construction on a water pump and plans to begin building new parks this fall.

Zimmer: “We’re taking climate change extremely seriously and we recognize the next storm could come, unfortunately, at any time. And we’re working as hard as we can to get our city in a position to be protected for the future.”

Reporting credit: ChavoBart Digital Media/Jason Jackson.
Photo: Hoboken, New Jersey skyline (copyright protected).

More Resources
Resist, Delay, Store, Discharge: A comprehensive strategy for Hoboken
Community Invited to Kickoff Meeting for Rebuild by Design Project
Rebuild By Design Hudson River Project Update