Politics & Government

Manasquan Gets $4 Million Sandy Clean-up Grant

The Borough of Manasquan has been awarded a $4 million federal grant to help pay for clean-up costs from Superstorm Sandy, officials said.

The $4,052,255 award from the Federal Emergency Management Agency was awarded to offset the borough’s cost of loading, hauling, and disposal of debris as a result of the storm. The money is in addition to over $960,000 previously awarded to the borough, bringing to $5.01 million the amount the borough has received to pay for 90 percent of $5.57 million it spent cleaning up after the storm, according to a release from Smith’s office.

Manasquan used a combination of township employees and hired contractors to transport and dispose of 19,729 cubic yards of brush; 82,349 cubic yards of construction/demolition debris; 768 cubic yards of concrete; and other trash. In addition, the work included about 625,000 cubic yards of sand which moved from public areas to the beach for dune repairs, and the sifting and hauling of an estimated 550 cubic yards of sand and the removal of leaning trees, the release says. 

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“I was in Manasquan in the aftermath of the storm with Mayor Dempsey and it was a scene of destruction—crumbled homes, wrecked businesses and impassable streets everywhere,” Smith (R-N.J.) said in the release. “This funding is critical. No small town like Manasquan Borough can absorb these costs without help from the federal government.”

In November, Smith held a groundbreaking ceremony in Manasquan with Mayor Dempsey, Borough Council and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to kick-off a $25 million beach reconstruction project. Dredging will take approximately 125 days to complete. The project will pump roughly 1,500,000 cubic yards of sand onto Manasquan, Sea Girt, Spring Lake and Belmar beaches, the release says.

Find out what's happening in Manasquan-Belmarwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“I am so glad we reached out to Congressman Smith because his office did phenomenal work and got the money from FEMA that we couldn’t get,” said Mayor  George Dempsey. “The congressman was down here a few days after the storm. We walked the beach together and he was truly concerned.”


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