July 14, 2025 • 6 mins
Mike Kelly joins Mendte in the Morning to talk about the Texas floods and how many other areas around the country, including New Jersey, are not prepared for a similar event.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's get to Mike Kelly. Mike Kelly is a award
winning columnist for New Jersey dot Com. Mike, I appreciate
you being with us today, and you have your eyes
on the Texas floods, which is really interesting because there
has been a lot of criticism about their preparedness for this,
and you say that other states and even New Jersey
(00:22):
is not ready for the next flood. By the way,
good morning, and explain that.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Good morning, Larry. Very nice to be with you on
but it's it's also a sad occasion. I mean, you know,
I think we can all agree, or can we all
agree that what happened in Texas is just an unbelievable
tragedy and we need to get the answers of why
it happened. But as I was looking at this and
the you know, the pointing of fingers and that sort
(00:48):
of thing, I started writing, you know, last week, and
I thought to myself, wait a second, it's really easy
for me to sit up here in New Jersey and say,
you know, all these Texas officials you know, sort of
dropped the ball. And I started thinking about my own state,
and I dove into the research, some of which is
my own. And here in New Jersey, we've dropped the
(01:09):
ball too when it comes to the dangers of floods
and the warning signs that people have been putting out
for years. And it's not just New Jersey, it's New
York State. It's take a look at what's going on
in Florida, particularly Miami. They're expecting Miami Beach to be underwater,
possibly sometime in the next half century. So this is
(01:30):
the kind of reality check that America really has to face,
and they won't face it for some reason. And I
picked there's you know, it's not just you can't just
blame climate change that sort of thing. A lot of
it has to do with money and the fact that
people like to live near the water.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Well, it was really egregious in Texas, and maybe it's
as egregious in New Jersey. You can explain. But they
had a bill before the state Senate and they turned
it down because it was going to cost too much money.
They had of a study that was done in the area,
and they gave it to the locals there to put
the sirens up, and they had all the equipment, they
(02:08):
just never put them up. It never seems to be
important until it happens.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, you're exactly right. Things are not as the grecious
here in New Jersey. However, let me just let me
just point to just a couple of small shore communities.
Back when Sandy, Hurricane Sandy hid in twenty twelve, there
were several shore communities on Barrier Islands off the Jersey
coast that were just wiped out. And we are talking
(02:36):
some of the most popular shore communities and wealthiest shore communities.
I'm talking about Mantiloching and Ortley Beach. Sandy came right
through there, took out literally dozens of homes in both
of those communities. And now what's going on. The homes
are back. They're built on stilts. You can believe this.
(02:57):
Some of those stilts are over ten feet high. In
other words, you got to walk up ten feet just
to get into your front door. And there's been absolutely
they've pushed some sand into a sand dune and that
sort of thing, but it's not going to hold back
the water when it comes through in a major storm.
In fact, on any given night, particularly during the wintertime,
(03:19):
these streets have two or three inches of water on them,
and the people have learned to deal with it and
just drive their cars through it as if you know
nothing's going Nothing is going on and there's no warning sign.
So that's just one example. There are many others up
and down the East Coast, particularly the East Coast and
into the Gulf Coast as well.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
But what could be done? So what is the solution
to that? Sometimes mother nature is mother nature. I understand Texas, right,
but in this case, when you're talking about the ocean,
what would you like to see done well?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I think let's take a look at Texas. They allowed,
for example, that can't mystic to build dormitories for girls
down near the water. I think someone is a very
hard choice. And you know you come off as a
very mean guy when you do this as a political figure,
but you've got to tell people, no, you can't build
(04:13):
that close to the water. And here in New Jersey
someone has to do that as a matter of fact.
The funny thing is you just had Chris Christy on
in the last segment, or at least had a recording
of him. He built a house a block from one
of the most dangerous parts of the shore on a
barrier island. See much of the Jersey Shore over fifty
(04:34):
miles of it is Barrier Islands, that includes Atlantic City,
that includes Long Beach Island. And I think, I know,
this is a very hard choice for people because we
are talking about billions of dollars in the economy. People
have to say, look, if you're going to have a
house there, there's no insurance for it. So I think
(04:55):
the government has to put its foot down and say, look,
you can't build there. We are tired of using taxpayers
dollars to, you know, protect your shore home. It's just
not fair to the rest of the country and the
rest of the state.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
I'm glad you brought Chris Christie up because Chris Christie
is going to do what Chris Christie wants to do,
as we all found out when he was on a
beach after he closed all the beaches. I really missed
those pictures. I missed those memes. I wish they'd make
a comeback. You know what, I will tell you this, Mike,
I can't stand Chris Christy. And it's not that I
can't It's not that I feel that way about a
(05:31):
lot of politicians, just Chris Christie because of what he
did to Bridget Kelly Well.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
My newspaper led the way on the bridge Gate coverage,
and I spend a fair amount of time interviewing Bridget
Kelly and what happened to her and looking into her
own story, and I can tell you, yeah, she got
the raw, the raw under that deal, and she was
set up as a scapegoat, really a really bad one.
And I think Chris Christie, I'm not a big fan
(05:58):
of his either. He started out well, remember how well
he started out. He was trumpeted as a possible presidential candidate.
And look where he is now. He's, you know, tried
to talk about Donald Trump, and he nobody really wants
to listen to him.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
No, nobody except for I guess George Stephanopolis, George Nefanopolis
still likes him and they so we have to suffer
through him every week. But I agree with you, I
just wish he would go away. Mike Kelly Award winning
columnists for North Jersey dot Com and The Record. Mike,
as always, thanks so much, Stay well, Eric, Thanks
Let's get to Mike Kelly. Mike Kelly is a award
winning columnist for New Jersey dot Com. Mike, I appreciate
you being with us today, and you have your eyes
on the Texas floods, which is really interesting because there
has been a lot of criticism about their preparedness for this,
and you say that other states and even New Jersey
(00:22):
is not ready for the next flood. By the way,
good morning, and explain that.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Good morning, Larry. Very nice to be with you on
but it's it's also a sad occasion. I mean, you know,
I think we can all agree, or can we all
agree that what happened in Texas is just an unbelievable
tragedy and we need to get the answers of why
it happened. But as I was looking at this and
the you know, the pointing of fingers and that sort
(00:48):
of thing, I started writing, you know, last week, and
I thought to myself, wait a second, it's really easy
for me to sit up here in New Jersey and say,
you know, all these Texas officials you know, sort of
dropped the ball. And I started thinking about my own state,
and I dove into the research, some of which is
my own. And here in New Jersey, we've dropped the
(01:09):
ball too when it comes to the dangers of floods
and the warning signs that people have been putting out
for years. And it's not just New Jersey, it's New
York State. It's take a look at what's going on
in Florida, particularly Miami. They're expecting Miami Beach to be underwater,
possibly sometime in the next half century. So this is
(01:30):
the kind of reality check that America really has to face,
and they won't face it for some reason. And I
picked there's you know, it's not just you can't just
blame climate change that sort of thing. A lot of
it has to do with money and the fact that
people like to live near the water.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Well, it was really egregious in Texas, and maybe it's
as egregious in New Jersey. You can explain. But they
had a bill before the state Senate and they turned
it down because it was going to cost too much money.
They had of a study that was done in the area,
and they gave it to the locals there to put
the sirens up, and they had all the equipment, they
(02:08):
just never put them up. It never seems to be
important until it happens.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, you're exactly right. Things are not as the grecious
here in New Jersey. However, let me just let me
just point to just a couple of small shore communities.
Back when Sandy, Hurricane Sandy hid in twenty twelve, there
were several shore communities on Barrier Islands off the Jersey
coast that were just wiped out. And we are talking
(02:36):
some of the most popular shore communities and wealthiest shore communities.
I'm talking about Mantiloching and Ortley Beach. Sandy came right
through there, took out literally dozens of homes in both
of those communities. And now what's going on. The homes
are back. They're built on stilts. You can believe this.
(02:57):
Some of those stilts are over ten feet high. In
other words, you got to walk up ten feet just
to get into your front door. And there's been absolutely
they've pushed some sand into a sand dune and that
sort of thing, but it's not going to hold back
the water when it comes through in a major storm.
In fact, on any given night, particularly during the wintertime,
(03:19):
these streets have two or three inches of water on them,
and the people have learned to deal with it and
just drive their cars through it as if you know
nothing's going Nothing is going on and there's no warning sign.
So that's just one example. There are many others up
and down the East Coast, particularly the East Coast and
into the Gulf Coast as well.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
But what could be done? So what is the solution
to that? Sometimes mother nature is mother nature. I understand Texas, right,
but in this case, when you're talking about the ocean,
what would you like to see done well?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I think let's take a look at Texas. They allowed,
for example, that can't mystic to build dormitories for girls
down near the water. I think someone is a very
hard choice. And you know you come off as a
very mean guy when you do this as a political figure,
but you've got to tell people, no, you can't build
(04:13):
that close to the water. And here in New Jersey
someone has to do that as a matter of fact.
The funny thing is you just had Chris Christy on
in the last segment, or at least had a recording
of him. He built a house a block from one
of the most dangerous parts of the shore on a
barrier island. See much of the Jersey Shore over fifty
(04:34):
miles of it is Barrier Islands, that includes Atlantic City,
that includes Long Beach Island. And I think, I know,
this is a very hard choice for people because we
are talking about billions of dollars in the economy. People
have to say, look, if you're going to have a
house there, there's no insurance for it. So I think
(04:55):
the government has to put its foot down and say, look,
you can't build there. We are tired of using taxpayers
dollars to, you know, protect your shore home. It's just
not fair to the rest of the country and the
rest of the state.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
I'm glad you brought Chris Christie up because Chris Christie
is going to do what Chris Christie wants to do,
as we all found out when he was on a
beach after he closed all the beaches. I really missed
those pictures. I missed those memes. I wish they'd make
a comeback. You know what, I will tell you this, Mike,
I can't stand Chris Christy. And it's not that I
can't It's not that I feel that way about a
(05:31):
lot of politicians, just Chris Christie because of what he
did to Bridget Kelly Well.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
My newspaper led the way on the bridge Gate coverage,
and I spend a fair amount of time interviewing Bridget
Kelly and what happened to her and looking into her
own story, and I can tell you, yeah, she got
the raw, the raw under that deal, and she was
set up as a scapegoat, really a really bad one.
And I think Chris Christie, I'm not a big fan
(05:58):
of his either. He started out well, remember how well
he started out. He was trumpeted as a possible presidential candidate.
And look where he is now. He's, you know, tried
to talk about Donald Trump, and he nobody really wants
to listen to him.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
No, nobody except for I guess George Stephanopolis, George Nefanopolis
still likes him and they so we have to suffer
through him every week. But I agree with you, I
just wish he would go away. Mike Kelly Award winning
columnists for North Jersey dot Com and The Record. Mike,
as always, thanks so much, Stay well, Eric, Thanks
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