Schumer secures funding of Nassau County Back Bays feasibility study

When it rains or snows, it floods. At least that’s what happens if you live in one of Nassau County’s bay back communities, like Freeport, that endure flooding not just during events like Hurricane Sandy, but in most heavy rain or snowstorms with high tide cycles. These communities stretch from Long Beach and the Five Towns north to Island Park and Oceanside, and east along the South Shore from Baldwin to Massapequa.

    At a press conference in Freeport on Monday, Feb. 8, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, Hempstead Town Supervisor Anthony Santino and Freeport Deputy Mayor Jorge Martinez urged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release federal funds to begin the Nassau Back Bays project, a study that would recommend ways in which to alleviate flooding and best shield South Shore communities from another Sandy.

    And on Wednesday, Feb. 10, Schumer announced that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will deliver $200,000 in federal funding to the Nassau Back Bays resiliency study. Schumer said these federal funds will zero-in on specific coastal protections to help shield South Shore communities from another Sandy.

  “I said it before and I’ll say it again: Nassau’s Back Bays project is, quite simply, a must-fund,” said Schumer. “I applaud the Army Corps for heeding the call and validating this project as a major priority so that Long Island’s South Shore communities are better protected and more resilient in the future. Today, the Nassau Back Bay feasibility study sets sail and the work we so desperately require will soon begin. We must make sure the vulnerabilities to our South Shore communities are addressed in the event of a future storm and this funding will help get that job done.”

    An additional $7 million in federal funding for “flood and storm damage reduction” is available in the Army Corps’ investigation account, Schumer explained. “The Nassau County Back Bays study is first on their list,” he said.

    “The money is there. I have met with the Army Corps and told them this is a priority,” Schumer said on Monday. “We don’t want to wait.” The study, which should take about a year or so to complete, will cost $500,000, Schumer said.

    The study will also examine and analyze a variety of flood protection measures, from raising additional homes to installing tidal surge gates at the Jones and Rockaway Inlets. “The study will look at many things — seawalls, dunes, berms, anything and everything,” Schumer explained. “It will be very comprehensive.”

    The Army Corps’ North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study, released last January, identified Nassau County’s back bays as one of nine high-risk areas along the Northeast coast that warranted additional analysis in order to develop a comprehensive flood risk reduction plan. The two-year study, funded by the 2013 Sandy Relief Bill, addressed coastal storm and flood risk.

    Three of the high-risk areas — New York/New Jersey Harbor, New Jersey Back Bays and Norfolk, Va. — were allocated money for further study in 2016, but there was “no funding available for Nassau,” Schumer said. Then in December, “$7 million was added [to the budget] to fund additional studies,” he said.

    Schumer further notes, the $200,000 in federal work plan dollars will allow the study to begin soon. As for next year, the Army Corps has also proposed an additional $300,000 in funding for this project, allowing the agency to finalize the Back Bays study.

    Hempstead Town Supervisor Anthony Santino supported Schumer’s efforts to fund the study. “We need funding for a Back Bays study,” Santino said. “Storm surges and coastal flooding are pervasive issues that do more than just threaten the quality of life for residents who live along the coast of our barrier island and the mainland communities that front our local bays. In fact, coastal flooding threatens the viability and the very survival of entire neighborhoods. That’s why it is so important for governments to study options to protect coastal infrastructure, and we need to secure monies to do the research that will precede projects to make our families safer.”

    Freeport sustained major flooding damage during Sandy, Martinez explained. “There were 3,500 homes flooded, $8 million in losses,” he said. “This is a South Shore issue, and needs to be addressed. All of us will benefit.”

    On Monday, Feb. 8 the rain and snow reminded those who live in back bay communities that flooding remains a persistent problem. In Freeport, the tide, 3.6 feet above the normal high, flooded streets for hours. Rob Fisenne, the village’s superintendent of public works, said that residents should be prepared for more unusually high tides.

    By Tuesday moring more saltwater flooded Freeport's streets. "There are 160 families stuck down here at the Anchorage,' Freeport resident Shari Wolf said.

   Freeport Schools sent our a messge to families of children who attend Archer, Bayview, New Visions and Gibyln Schools that due to high water on Tuesday, the buses could not go south of Cedar Street. Children were picked up north of Front Street, where school buses circle the block, waiting for children.

  By Wednesday morming the water receded and Freeporters went about their business.