Basin commission to hold meetings on flooding plan

WEST TRENTON, N.J. - Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) Executive Director Carol R. Collier has scheduled three new February meeting dates to give the public an opportunity to provide feedback on the Interstate Flood Mitigation Task Force’s flood loss reduction and flood mitigation draft recommendations for the Delaware River Basin. The public meetings will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Feb. 13 at the Hugel Science Center, Lafayette College, High Street, Easton; Feb. 15 at the Carvel State Office Building, Mezzanine Floor, 820 North French Street, Wilmington, Del.; and Feb. 20 at the William Antheil Elementary School, 339 Ewingville Road, Ewing, N.J. The task force’s draft report now appears on the commission’s Web site at www.drbc.net. Written comments will be accepted until Feb. 28, 2007, and should be mailed to: Robert Tudor, Deputy Executive Director, DRBC, P.O. Box 7360, 25 State Police Drive, West Trenton, NJ 08628. “The Flood Mitigation Task Force has identified a total of 44 consensus recommendations for a more proactive, sustainable, and systematic approach to flood damage reduction,” Collier said. The task force has concluded that no set of mitigation measures will entirely eliminate impacts of flooding along the Delaware River, but some changes will improve the basin’s resiliency. The recommendations are divided into six priority management areas: reservoir operations; structural and non-structural measures; stormwater management; floodplain mapping; floodplain regulation; and flood warning. The Delaware Basin was devastated by severe floods in Sept. 2004, Apr. 2005, and June 2006, following a period of nearly 50 years without any widespread main stem flooding. Additional information about the task force, including directions to the public meetings and the Dec. 2006 update letter to the governors, can be found on the commission’s Web site at www.drbc.net.