LIRR hopes to ease Island Park flooding

Representatives of the Long Island Rail Road told Island Park Mayor James Ruzicka that workers would be cleaning out the drains on the tracks in the village next week.

Ruzicka announced the plan at a village board meeting on Oct. 20. The work is set to start on Oct. 31.

In the wake of the flooding from Tropical Storm Irene, many irate residents came to the village board meeting in September to complain. Residents of Nassau Lane told trustees that they believed the LIRR had raised the tracks in the village, forcing rain water onto their properties and causing floods.

“In previous meetings, a lot of the residents were saying a lot of the flooding had been coming from the railroad and that there was more water than they had ever seen back there,” Ruzicka said, describing one impetus for the meeting. “The second part was that I did send out a letter earlier this year, in the spring, asking for them to clean it, and they didn’t. And the year before they did.”

According to Ruzicka, LIRR workers plan to clean out the drainage trench that runs along the tracks, as well as the drainage box at the end. The village and the LIRR are also going to work together to examine where the railroad’s drains enter the village’s.

“I hope that it will alleviate some of the water problems back there,” Ruzicka said. “I don’t think that’s the entire problem. But it will let the water flow a little better back there.

“I’m hoping to find that by cleaning out some of our drain piping, that it will help the flow also,” he added.

Ruzicka said it should take the LIRR a week or two to do the work, depending on what they find. “If we find the pipe that connects their drainage to ours is small, that’ll make a bigger job out of it,” he said. “So we’ll have to take it one step at a time.”

The village is also in the process of examining and cleaning out its own drainage system, which Ruzicka said he hopes will also decreased flooding in the village.

Nassau Lane intersects Marina Road at a low spot, where most of the flooding occurs. Residents estimate the damage to homes in the area, from Irene and the heavy rains before it, at $750,000.

“I think it’s a combination of a lot of things over there,” said Ruzicka. “It’s not only the railroad; some of it is our drains. We’re cleaning out our drain boxes, we’re going to clean out the piping as best we can with some water blasting. And hopefully that all increases the flow.

“But we still have a spot that’s low,” he continued. “And when the tide is high, the valves are going to be closed, and there’s no getting around that. No matter what we do.”