Last week MRRI’s GIS Specialist Christopher Blackley attended the New Jersey Association for Floodplain Management 19th annual conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This conference brings together over 500 flood management experts from a variety of backgrounds to collaborate and share their experiences with mitigating floods. On the first day Christopher attended Flood Management Training that went over the National Flood Insurance Program, FEMA’s Community Rating System, FEMA flood maps, disaster opportunities and hazard mitigation. This training will help MRRI GIS lab to better understand and assist NJSEA’s Land Use Management and Planning Departments needs and responsibilities when it comes to managing flood risk in the Meadowlands’ District.

On the second and third day several concurrent technical talks were held about flood management and mitigation. Technical talks were led by experts in the field including representation from FEMA, NJDEP, NJOEM, DRBC (Delaware River Basin Commission), NJOEM, AECOM, and ARC. During the talks experts presented new technologies and techniques that will help advance flood mapping, hazard analysis, and flood prediction modeling in order to aide communities vulnerable to flooding.

In-between technical talks Keynote speakers such as Glen “Hurricane” Schwartz presented on the increasing presence of flooding in the United States. This hurricane season brought about vicious storms off the Atlantic coast and Glen Schwartz iterated the importance of flood mitigation and preparedness for communities that will be affected by future storms like the Meadowlands.
