The Wall Street Journal | By: Kate King | October 19, 2017:
Cape May Point has benefited from a nature preserve built on the site of the former South Cape May, which was abandoned by residents 60 years ago after hurricanes and flooding. Since the preserve was completed, homeowners have submitted fewer flood insurance claims.
South Cape May, a beach village on New Jersey’s southern tip that at one point had a trolley, four-story building shaped like an elephant and Victorian homes, no longer exists. In its place is a 456-acre nature preserve and state park. Known as Lower Cape May Meadows, the area serves as a crucial stopover for migrating birds and helps protect inland neighborhoods from dangerous storm surges.
Since the nature preserve was completed in 2007, homeowners in nearby Cape May Point have submitted fewer flood insurance claims, according to a 2014 study by the Nature Conservancy, which owns the preserve. Cape May Point is a small residential community located just west of the popular seaside resort of Cape May.
“The roads don’t flood at all now,” said Nancy Kirtland, 71, who has lived in the borough for 22 years. “Even superstorm Sandy resulted in very little damage.”
Environmental experts say the project offers a model for how communities can retreat from vulnerable oceanfront while helping protect inland areas from the effects of expected rising sea levels. The state has earmarked $375 million in mostly federal funds to buy out and demolish homes in flood-prone areas, but so far has focused these efforts on tidal communities rather than coastal towns.
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