Flood gates are dropped from a plan to protect the Jersey Shore’s back bays from catastrophic storms

Associated Press

MANASQUAN, N.J. (AP) — Huge gates at the mouths of three inlets and barriers across bays are no longer part of a plan to protect New Jersey’s back bays from the type of catastrophic flooding they endured during Superstorm Sandy. Instead, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants to rely more on elevating thousands of homes, hardening police and fire stations, hospitals and critical infrastructure, and restoring salt marshes to act as natural sponges capable of absorbing floodwaters during severe storms. The changes would reduce the cost of the plan from $16 billion to $7.6 billion, and remove a major point of contention raised by homeowners, environmentalists and some local governments.