Resilience Center May Help Seaside With Future Storms

It only took a few hours for 30 years of Patty Hershey’s life to be destroyed by superstorm Sandy. But while that devastation destroyed her home and businesses, it gave birth to a plan that might prevent such damage from happening ever again… But Hersey, of Seaside Heights, and her friend, Carol Kane of Seaside Park, didn’t want the center to just be a local effort, so they brought their idea to Rutgers University officials. While Rutgers hasn’t fully committed, they are discussing how to join Hershey and make the idea a reality… A new weather station, led by New Jersey State Climatologist David Robinson and used to observe conditions such as the temperature, precipitation and wind in the area, is also being discussed. The station would report observations to the National Weather Service and be available to help the borough "prepare, respond and recover from coastal storms," Robinson said… Another goal for the center is to offer accredited courses to Rutgers University students in areas such as engineering and marine science. Mike De Luca, senior associate director of the Rutgers Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, said accredited courses may be developed "down the road and will focus on resilient and green infrastructure design."