Following the recent powerful blizzard, Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04) has asked President Obama to declare impacted New Jersey counties a disaster area.

    "I am writing to request that you consider issuing a Presidential disaster declaration for the state of New Jersey, including the shore counties of Ocean and Monmouth in my Congressional District, which were hit especially hard by the weekend’s extreme winter storm," said Smith in a Dec. 30 letter.

    "The blizzard blanketed much of New Jersey with two or more feet of snow.  This snowstorm was out of the ordinary because it was accompanied by very high winds and gusts that created blizzard like conditions, often drifting snow to several times that of the two foot depth snow fall in areas along the New Jersey shore.  A statewide emergency was issued for the state on Sunday, December 26, 2010... ." Click here to view Cong. Smith's letter to President Obama.