"The basins were part of the plan to accommodate Margate's storm water management system," he said. "Because of the city's existing drainage system, the project design had to leave an ample amount of space between the bulkhead and dune to accommodate storm water coming from the outlets in the bulkheads. The basins functioned as designed in terms of absorbing the storm water, but the water is not percolating as quickly as anticipated. It was an extraordinary rain event from the reports we've seen (5-plus inches in Atlantic City) and the areas were already saturated."

