Small villages focus on big problems

Hewlett Harbor and Hewlett Neck seek to mitigate flooding

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Hurricane Sandy rebuilding talk often swirls around larger communities, but the smaller Five Towns villages of Hewlett Harbor and Hewlett Neck are also seeking to mitigate the damage caused by flooding.
The two communities are expected to receive about $3 million each through the federally funded NY Rising program, to be used for infrastructure projects.
“I thank Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and Governor Cuomo for their continued commitment to securing the dollars needed to improve our infrastructure so that it withstands future storms,” said Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano. “Too many residents continue to struggle in rebuilding their lives, and we never lose focus [on] helping them recover and rebuild.”
In Hewlett Harbor, where an 11-foot Sandy storm surge flooded about 140 homes and left critical village streets, such as Pepperidge Road, impassable, the money will be used for rebuilding, upgrading and maintaining existing infrastructure. The village has been conducting an engineering study for several years, and will now have the money to implement some of the study’s recommendations, such as increasing the size of the drain water pipe underneath Village Hall to mitigate flooding.
Mayor Mark Weiss said that the village has been working on infrastructure improvement plans. “We’re in a good position to start the rebuilding process because we’ve been working on studying our infrastructure for over five years now,” Weiss said. “We’ve been working with different engineering firms to find a consensus for what our best plan of action should be. Cleaning, clearing and mapping out our drains throughout the village have been our process so far.”
The challenge for Hewlett Harbor is determining which is the best plan to use, Weiss said. “With water, there’s never a simple solution,” he said. “Everyone has a quick-fix solution. High water rising in one area can cause flooding in another.”

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