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More flooding in Long Beach, Island Park

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Use caution in the West End

Posted by Long Beach Professional Fire Fighters on Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Parts of Long Beach flooded again on Tuesday following the latest winter storm and during high tide, mainly in the Canals and West End.
Courtesy Long Beach Professional Firefighters/Facebook

A number of residents reported coastal flooding in their neighborhoods on Monday and Tuesday during and after the latest winter storm, mainly in the Canals and West End that some said made for hazardous driving conditions or prevented them from getting down their streets.

The National Weather Service issued winter weather and coastal flood advisories for the area again on Tuesday and into Wednesday, as a slow-moving storm was expected to drop three to five inches of snow — and make for messy commutes — and also cause flooding during periods of high tide. The coastal flood advisory was in effect until 11 a.m. Tuesday and again from 8 to 11 p.m.

Island Park also experienced severe flooding, and many residents posted photos on Facebook that illustrated the impact on local streets. On Tuesday, many residents said that the flooding was even worse, with some reporting a foot of water on some streets.

Whereas parts of the Canals, West End and some other areas along Reynolds Channel experienced minor flooding during a blizzard that rocked the South Shore last month, flooding during the latest storm caught many residents off guard, according to Kevin Reilly, vice president of the North East Bay and Canal Civic Association. The high tide, strengthened by a new moon and combined with a low-pressure system, caused more flooding than usual, Reilly said. During the blizzard, some residents in the Canals, which experienced some of the worst flooding during Hurricane Sandy, parked their vehicles in Rockville Centre and other towns to avoid any potential flood damage.

“This time … all of a sudden, people woke up not being able to get to their cars,” said Reilly, who added that water could be seen reaching the top of the seven-foot tall bulkheads. "It came as a very big surprise.”

“Couldn't get kids down to their bus stops,” one resident said this morning on the Facebook page Long Beach Rising. “So we are just waiting until I can drive them to school, and they will be a couple hours late since the tide is still coming up.”

Four years after Sandy, residents have expressed frustration and said that a number of mitigation and resiliency measures the city is undertaking, including the installation of tide-flex valves on the north side of the city and other projects, can't move forward quickly enough.

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