“It’s time to move on.”

From the Record:

Homes leveled in flood zone

With a few strikes from demolition equipment, houses in Wayne’s flood-prone Hoffman Grove neighborhood quickly tumbled to the ground Wednesday in a $5.9 million project to get residents out of the flood zone.

Four of the 34 homes that the township bought with a mix of state and federal funds were torn down. By the end of February about one third of the neighborhood will be gone, said Sandy Galacio, Wayne’s Emergency Management Coordinator.

Officials want to remove all 120 homes from the Pompton River neighborhood and received another $3 million in December for a second round of buyouts. That money should cover another 20 homes, Galacio said.

“It’s sad to see the end of the Grove,” Larry Irizarry, who has lived there for 22 years, said as he watched his neighbors’ homes get torn down. “It used to be a really nice neighborhood. The flooding wasn’t so bad. But after 1987 it started getting worse. It’s time to move on.”

Wayne was the first in the state to pursue a large-scale buyout program, but other North Jersey towns may soon follow. The state and federal government will make a lot more money available this year for towns to remove properties from frequently flooded areas.
…
In Bergen County, 27 properties in 11 towns have suffered severe repetitive losses, including nine properties in Oakland. In Morris County 66 properties in six towns have suffered severe repetitive losses.

FEMA will make more money available this year for buyouts and other mitigation through a new severe repetitive loss funding program, said Sgt. Jeff Crapser, with the state Office of Emergency Management. To be eligible to apply, towns have to seek approval from FEMA for an “All Hazards Mitigation Plan,” which maps out areas vulnerable to natural disasters and includes plans to solve the problem, such as buyouts. Those plans will help FEMA prioritize which towns get the most money.