What’s up with post-Sandy reconstruction?

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In the bleak aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed 22 local committees to plan “resiliency” projects that are intended to hold back big storms if, and when, they strike in the future. Freeport is ready with a program that will harden its electrical infrastructure.


The communities — 13 in Nassau County, including Freeport and nine in Suffolk — are eligible for up to $250 million in funding from the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery, which was established in July 2013 to help New Yorkers recover after Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and Sandy in 2012. The program’s funding comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.


Cuomo appointed Community Reconstruction Program leaders and directed them to organize local planning committees, which drew members from fire departments, local governments, chambers of commerce, religious institutions and civic organizations. They held a combined 525 meetings in a little under eight months. Participants spoke on what they believed their communities needed to better prepare for tropical storms and hurricanes. In Freeport, the Community Reconstruction Program was co-chaired by Rob Weltner and Dewey Smalls.


The state then hired four consulting firms, including multinational companies Arup, Jacobs, Perkins Eastman and URS Corporation, now part of Aecom, to do most of the design work.


Plans were submitted to the state for approval in March 2014. In a legal notice in the Oct. 20 edition of The Freeport Leader, the Village of Freeport announced its intention to use its Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery funding from the NY Rising Community Reconstruction Program to harden its electrical infrastructure. The project — the Freeport Channel Crossing Electrical Improvements Project — will replace submarine cables beneath the Freeport Channel. These cables carry a load of Freeport’s electric power, serving one-quarter of residents and businesses, two firehouses, two sewer pump stations and three flood sirens and the Nautical Mile restaurants.


During Superstorm Sandy, infrastructure maintained by Freeport Electric (located adjacent to the Freeport Channel) was damaged by untethered vessels and floating debris, tripping the electrical grid in the area.


According to Weltner, the purpose of this project is to make the electric infrastructure less susceptible to damage and protect residents and businesses from future loss of power and to reduce the risk of injury and fire due to downed electric lines. “We must protect what’s most exposed and have the biggest impact,” Weltner said. At the present time, the conduit and the risers connecting electric cables to the overhead transmission lines are vulnerable to tidal inundation and are susceptible to damage from floating debris and vessels during coastal surges and storms.  “Now the polls are in the middle of Al Grover’s High and Dry [boat yard],” Weltner said. “They are very important high voltage circuits for the system.” These lines contain cables that serve Substation 2P and 4F and serve one-quarter of Freeport.  “If we lose them in another storm, it would be a very long time to get the power back to Freeport,” Weltner said.
This project is estimated to cost $3 million.


For more information about the project and it’s impact the floodplain, go to www.stormrecovery.ny.gov/environmental-docs or call 518-473-0015. Comments are being accepted by the state until Nov. 4 on this project.
Meanwhile, other projects in Nassau County are, for the most part, yet to get under way. 


Todd Kaminsky, a Democratic state senator from Long Beach, said, “There’s a lot of that we need to see to fruition.” A number of projects, he said, are held up at the local level, where plans must be vetted by the towns and villages before they can move forward.


However, there is an urgent need for resiliency projects, he noted. “Are we going to wait for the next storm to happen” before construction gets under way? he said. “There is going to be another storm that is going to hit.”


Meanwhile, Assembly David McDonough, a Republican from North Merrick, said, “The governor’s plans look good on paper, but the money hasn’t come through yet. I don’t think the money is coming down fast enough.”

Projects vary. Here are some:
The Atlantic Beach committee plans to “harden” the infrastructure around three water-pump stations to keep saltwater out if the Atlantic were to flood this Long Beach barrier island community once again.


The Bellmore-Merrick committee plans to upgrade drainage outflow pipes that let out into the bays, installing “check valves” that would close shut in the event of flooding. The valves, officials said, would help prevent saltwater inundation.


The Oceanside committee would restore damaged wetlands to serve as a protective barrier if the Atlantic were ever to rise up again as it did during Sandy.
And the list goes on. See all plans at stormrecovery.ny.gov/community-regions/long-island.