In my earlier post I wrote about my birthplace, Newark, N.J. which is situated in northeastern United States. The Nathan map indicates that this part of the country may be faced with increases in heavy rains, the threat of rising sea levels and tropical cyclones (or hurricanes). The size of the Nathan map and the fact that the scale of the map could not be adjusted, made it somewhat difficult to locate these hazards in my specific area. Also, the color gradients used to distinguish intensity (zones) is not easy to interpolate. However, given the recent weather history of this area, I agree that the trend predictions seem reasonable.

A power outage occurred in Western Kentucky earlier today, which affected close to 14,000 customers, including the entire city of Murray. Murray State University cancelled all evening classes. The cause of the outage was a lightning strike which hit a TVA substation. Could this type of event happen in Newark? It has in the past and could happen again. Lightning strikes are one cause of power outages, but there are others. Hurricane Sandy certainly caused a massive power failure, affecting millions of people and causing enormous commercial losses. A power outage in this part of the country is particularly damaging due to population density. This density magnifies the effect of the outage, wreaking havoc on mass transportation (NJ Transit railroads, and the PATH lines which link New Jersey to New York) as well as automobile and pedestrian traffic. We have had two extremely large scale power outages in the past: in the late 1960’s the entire eastern seaboard went dark and in the 1970’s New York City and northern New Jersey were blacked out. I experienced both of these and they were no picnic. The underlying cause of both blackouts was infrastructure failure. Improvements have been made, but are not nearly sufficient to deal with the increase in demand, so this area remains vulnerable.

New Jersey, and Newark in particular, remains vulnerable to natural hazards. Weather is always a topic of discussion since Superstorm Sandy; rising sea levels are a concern as much of Newark lies at sea level; extreme events (again Sandy) have caused massive gasoline shortages and disrupted the already “strained” infrastructure. The Rutgers School of Public Affairs has published an excellent report “The Impact of Superstorm Sandy on New Jersey Towns and Households” which details the enormous impact of this event. One of the most interesting sections deals with the social justice aspect of citizens’ resiliency. Using the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) measurement, they found that low income families were more severely affected by the storm and had fewer resources to use for recovery.

The Rutgers study, and my personal experience, conclude that Newark, and New Jersey’s future vulnerability and resilience will depend on how much we are willing to invest in improving our infrastructure. Elements such as our power grid, mass transit and roadways need massive improvement. However, though the need is recognized, the social and political “will” does not always exist. Most importantly, this investment in our future must include investment in Newark’s most vulnerable human assets, providing more secure employment with better wages and safer, more affordable housing. Only if we meet all these needs will we be truly “Jersey Strong.”

Mike Evangelista

Sources:

Halpin, Stephanie Hoopes, PhD. The Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration, Newark, NJ 2015 The Impact of Superstorm Sandy on New Jersey Towns and Households.

United Way of New Jersey, ALICE, Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, A Study of Financial Hardship in New Jersey, 2012. Morristown, New Jersey