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Reducing floods in Hoboken and Montego Bay [1]
['Noelani Kirschner']
Date: 2024-09-20 16:09:01+00:00
Parts of Hoboken, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, sit less than 30 centimeters above sea level. After Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, residents waded through streets filled with knee-high water.
“During intense coastal floods, such as Superstorm Sandy, Hoboken kind of fills up like a bathtub,” Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla said.
Montego Bay, Jamaica, also faces severe flooding. In 2017, Jamaica’s second-largest city suffered a once-in-a-century storm that dropped “one month’s supply of rainfall within four hours,” according to Tamoy Sinclair, parish coordinator for disaster preparedness with the city.
When Hurricane Beryl hit Jamaica in July 2024, Hoboken city officials communicated with Montego Bay officials to assist with that city’s post-storm assessments. That cooperation grew out of the two cities’ partnership through the Cities Forward program.
Launched in April 2023 at the inaugural Cities Summit of the Americas, the State Department initiative connects local officials working toward a more sustainable, resilient and inclusive future. Hoboken and Montego Bay are among 24 municipalities in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean paired to work together through the program. The Institute of the Americas, Resilient Cities Catalyst and ICLEI, a network of 2,500 local and regional governments, support the partnerships.
Under an April 2024 memorandum, Hoboken and Montego Bay agreed to share information and success stories to enable both cities to better prepare for future storms. The cooperation will include floodplain and stormwater management, as well as green infrastructure, which prevents pollution from contaminating stormwater runoff and reduces urban heat island effects that worsen as the climate changes.
The cities also plan to define areas at risk from sea level rise, map environmental hazards and designate areas for intervention. Officials will hold regular meetings and advance projects that benefit poor and underserved residents.
Through the partnership, Montego Bay city officials are taking steps toward re-engineering the city’s major natural gullies through nature-based solutions to mitigate flooding, implement several forms of community-based early warning systems for residents and improve waste management.
The cities’ collaboration will build on recent successes, including Hoboken’s June 2023 opening of a 5-acre resiliency park. The park’s 19 rain gardens can absorb and retain 7.6 million liters of rainwater and have reduced sewer overflows 90% in the past year, according to Hoboken city officials.
“We’re trying to solve problems that can save lives and make people’s lives better,” Bhalla says. “We’ve got great potential to create something that’s innovative and can be replicated in other areas where a project like this can be effective.”
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