NJSEA staff attended and presented at the 20th annual New Jersey Association for Floodplain Management conference in Atlantic City. The NJAFM conference allows hundreds of floodplain managers to network and learn new ways to mitigate flooding. A discussion grounds for flood experts to comingle ideas with the goal of protecting people and property form the adverse impact of floods and storms.
The conference consisted of many technical talks where flood experts were able to present and share their work. Some of talks were lead by professionals from the NJDEP, Dewberry, NJOEM, AECOM, Langan Engineering and Michael Baker International.
MRRI’s own GIS specialist Christopher Blackley presented his own technical talk at the conference about analyzing the effectiveness of flood control structures using flood simulation models. Chris built flood simulation models that mimic real life flooding situations that are possible in the Meadowlands. The plethora of geospatial data that MRRI has collected and maintained over the years helps strengthen the accuracy of the models, giving us a better look into how water flows in the Meadowlands. Chris took it a step further by using the simulation model to implement potential development changes to our local flood control structures, like flood control berms and tide gates. Running the simulation with these modified structures allows us to look into the future and see how development can affect future flooding and helps us better understand how effective these flood control structures are before development starts.
