As New Jersey hunkered down in a state of emergency in the wake of July 14 flash flooding — second on record behind Hurricane Ida — we also mourn the lives lost in Texas. Intense storms will become more frequent due to climate change, and New Jersey is not immun
As New Jersey hunkered down in a state of emergency in the wake of July 14 flash flooding — second on record behind Hurricane Ida — we also mourn the lives lost in Texas. Intense storms will become more frequent due to climate change, and New Jersey is not immune.
While touring Wallington in the wake of Hurricane Ida in September 2021, then-Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli said, “When you see the devastation, [climate change] has to be near the top of the priority list.”
Massive flooding had just taken the lives of 30 people in that devastating event, making it the second-deadliest storm in New Jersey, causing $8 billion to $10 billion in damages. Twenty-one of those people died because they were either in a car or on foot as floodwaters rapidly moved through neighborhoods.
Perhaps this is one issue that the 2025 gubernatorial candidates — U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee, and Ciattarelli, again the Republican nominee — can agree on.
Recently, some New Jersey towns faced temperatures of 103 degrees, with 150 people falling ill during a graduation ceremony, causing the local fire chief to declare “a mass casualty incident.”
Last year, in opening statements to the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, Sherrill rightly called heat the silent killer, as heat-related deaths have recently doubled.
What does the politicization of climate events mean for New Jersey?
As communities continue to suffer, adaptation to climate events is becoming politicized nationally, threatening cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development — the very dollars that helped New Jersey build its way out of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and Irene. Meanwhile, the risks are growing, and New Jerseyans are watching.
According to Rebuild by Design's Atlas of Disaster: New Jersey, the state has experienced 14 federally declared major disasters due to extreme weather from 2011 to 2024 — most due to flooding and storms — and is ranked fifth in the country for highest per capita FEMA support. Every county has had five or more recent major disasters, with 50% of counties having at least seven, and Morris County experiencing the most: nine disaster declarations.
What does that mean for New Jersey communities? An analysis of all 3.4 million properties statewide, including residential, commercial, and industrial parcels, in the report Flood Risk = Financial Risk shows that more than 600,000 people live in areas with a property value exceeding $277 billion that are likely to flood in 25 years. If that is left unabated, 1.3 million people will have high flood risk, putting $3.2 billion in property tax at risk — funding to keep our emergency services, schools and beaches open for critical tourism revenue that supports the state year-round.
For some counties, this could be devastating. As many as 70% of Cape May County parcels will have a high risk of flooding by 2050. It also affects urban areas: $62 billion in market value is at risk in Hudson County, growing to $82 billion in 2050, with over $900 million of property taxes at risk.
While costs continue to rise, it is becoming increasingly hard to purchase affordable insurance. In 2024, Allstate told its home insurance policyholders that rates could rise by 55% "due to inflation and catastrophic exposure (extreme weather) in the State." Counties like Cape May, Hudson, Ocean and Atlantic on average have higher non-renewal rates and experienced some of the steepest increases in comparison with counties at lower risk of severe storms and flooding. For instance, in Cape May, the non-renewal rate tripled since 2018. As coverage declines, more households may be left financially exposed in the face of future flood events.
How can the NJ governor candidates address climate?
Extreme weather hurts everyone, especially the most vulnerable communities, and the two New Jersey gubernatorial candidates can do something about it:
1. Fund resilient infrastructure to make communities safer
Create reliable state funding sources to adapt to sea level rise, severe storms and extreme weather. Support state-level stable funding to aid communities in their adaptation to this new reality. Communities from New York to Texas have supported bond proposals to create new sources of funding for localities to adapt to wetter, hotter and drier climates.
New Jersey can smartly make these investments pay off. Across the state, 110 communities participate in FEMA's Community Rating System, which lowers flood insurance when community-wide action is taken. The borough of Avalon and Sea Isle City have already seen a 35% reduction. This same concept can be applied to all types of insurance, rewarding New Jersey families for upgrades to their homes — such as relocating critical infrastructure, installing fortified roofs and elevating utilities.
2. Help families move away from risk
Expand funding for New Jersey’s Blue Acres voluntary buyout program to acquire homes in high-flood-prone and repetitive-flood zones, and provide case management support and social services to households opting to relocate. Such efforts restore natural floodplains and reduce future recovery costs. Those areas can return to nature, helping ensure that the neighboring community does not flood.
3. Plan for short- and long-term migration
New Jersey's housing vacancy rate is 0.5% for homeowners and 3.6% for renters, according to 2024 reports from the St. Louis Federal Reserve. Climate events will put further pressure on a constrained real estate market, driving up property costs and driving people to look for housing away from the state. Long-term strategies are needed for managing local migration to ensure displaced residents have access to housing, jobs and resources in safer areas. This approach should integrate economic mobility and housing access, addressing the growing challenges of climate-induced displacement within New Jersey and from other regions.
This year’s election will decide who leads our state’s climate response. We must ensure the next governor is committed to environmental resilience, especially flood mitigation, and lead New Jersey out of the cycle of disaster response and into a new era of proactive, sustained investments in a stronger and more climate-resilient future.