Storms took N.J. to class

The serious bruising that recent storms have inflicted on New Jersey serves as a strong reminder that the state still hasn't fully applied the lessons it should have learned from Superstorm Sandy.

The state's densely populated Shore area, long threatened by rising sea levels, is especially at risk when water is whipped up by fierce winds. Yet state officials continue to drag their feet in implementing an immediate strategy to get residents out of harm's way and a long-term plan to slow climate change by reducing greenhouse gases.

Reconstruction standards are more stringent since Sandy hit in 2012. Homes must be elevated to higher levels to receive a Federal Emergency Management Agency reconstruction loan. But vacation residents are ineligible to receive grants to put their homes on stilts, which has left entire blocks of houses on pilings or sitting on the sand.

Since Sandy, the state has approved the buyouts of about 700 homeowners in flood-prone areas, but participation in the program is voluntary. It should be mandatory in areas like a colony near North Wildwood, where a house that floated away in Grassy Sound took out chunks of neighboring homes as it rammed them.

Most boardwalks that splintered three years ago have been rebuilt at higher elevations. But a Point Pleasant boardwalk fire that started in electrical wiring soon after Sandy exposed a pressing need to update the building code for coastal construction.

Gov. Christie is trying to buy easements to build dunes along the entire Atlantic Coast, which is a good idea, but back bays need protection too. Bulkheads should be raised and antiquated wastewater systems upgraded. Storm drains were so overwhelmed in Stone Harbor last weekend that water washed back into streets. During other recent storms, raw sewage was dumped into bays.

Christie has been good about telling people to "get the hell off the beach," as he did during Hurricane Irene in 2011. He hugged President Obama during his post-Sandy visit. He even took off from his presidential campaign to declare an emergency when it appeared that Hurricane Joaquin would bash the Jersey Shore. But otherwise, Christie has shown an astonishing lack of interest in taking environmental steps to protect the state now and in the future.

For example, the state's Board of Public Utilities continues to stall on a financing plan proposed five years ago to help develop offshore wind farms, even though the federal government has started leasing sites for the clean-energy turbines off Atlantic City.

Maybe Christie needs to "get the hell off" the campaign trail long enough to take care of business in New Jersey. Meteorologists predict that the state should have a less extreme hurricane season this year, which makes now an excellent time for him to prepare for the inevitable next extreme weather event.