NEPTUNE – Gov. Chris Christie gripped a podium this afternoon in a flat-featured, fluorescent office building on the side of Route 66 where FEMA will bulldoze outward to help prop upright a state banged around last month by Hurricane Irene.
FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) already has dished $3 million in here, Christie said, and this bland complex will house the feds’ disaster relief ops.
“We’re obviously monitoring the rainfall this week,” said the governor, who appeared out of heavy rainfall to arrive late to his scheduled press conference.
A flood watch is in effect for much of the state tonight as 242 people remain sheltered in four different counties as a consequence of Irene.
Paterson and Cranford will have delayed school openings this year.
“We will be here as long as you need us,” FEMA Coordinating Officer Bill Vogel told the governor, explaining that infrastructure repair will be among his agency’s chief responsibilities.
He noted that the office building was barren two days ago. Christie called the building a joint command center for FEMA and the state Office of Emergency Management (OEM).
