The email arrived on a Tuesday about new New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection guidelines, under the heading of Resilient Environments and Landscapes (REAL) and effective Jan. 20, on elevation levels for homes in flood zones. Four feet. Just like that, we are being told to go 4 feet higher than every calculation we’ve been making, every foundation we’ve designed, every schematic we’ve perfected. And this goes for every family that was a grain of sand away from their new shore house.

Four feet doesn’t sound like much until you understand what it means.