Ever since low-lying Hoboken was flooded during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012, officials have worked on new infrastructure to combat the next possible flooding disaster.

On Monday morning, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and Mayor Ravi Bhalla announced good news regarding these efforts — a $14 million federal grant for ongoing work to create the city's largest park, which will have underground basins to collect, treat, and discharge up to two million gallons of rainwater.

The $14 million FEMA flooding grant will help pay for the $48.5 million Northwest Resiliency Parkin the formerly industrial northwest part of town.

The five-acre park will contain a basketball court with an underground basin that can hold 86,000 gallons of rainwater, an athletic field with a basin that can hold 290,000 gallons, as well as an underground cistern that can hold 50,000 gallons and a storage tank that can hold a million gallons.

Where will the water go? It will be treated and discharged safetly into the Hudson River, officials said. Some of the water can be used to irrigate the park.

For the last two years, the Northwest Park was used as a temporary recreation area for the city's residents, until it was closed this past September to be transformed into a permanent 5-acre park. City officials said they expect the permanent park to open to the public in fall of 2022.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, who grew up nearby in Union City and lived in Hoboken for a time as an adult, said he knew well the problems caused by flooding in Hoboken.

"I lived here," he said. "It doesn't take a Sandy or an Irene to cause flooding."

During Hurricane Sandy, the National Guard had to come to Hoboken to help people who couldn't leave their apartments because of flooding in the southern half of town. Most of town lost power for a week or longer.

But Menendez was also concerned that extreme weather events will become more frequent due to ongoing climate change, and cast barbs at Pres. Donald Trump, who has denied that climate change is a major threat.

He said he looks forward to "the day when we can once again have a president in the White House and a majority in the Senate committed to combating climate change. Our children and our grandchildren deserve nothing less. In the meantime, we must do all we can to make sure New Jersey is ready for whatever Mother Nature throws our way."

Hoboken also has two smaller resiliency parks: at Seventh and Jackson streets on the western edge of town, and the small Southwest Park near the city's border with Jersey City.