Community News

More flooding along the South Shore

Army Corp of Engineers approves $200,000 after Sen. Charles Schumer calls for funding of Nassau County Back Bays feasibility study

Posted

UPDATE: The following is an update to a story that runs in this week's Herald. Story below. - Mary Malloy, editor


 
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer, today, said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will deliver $200K in federal funding to the Nassau Back Bays resiliency study. Schumer, who pushed vigorously for these funds, said these federal funds will zero-in on specific coastal protections to best 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.”

 
The now final Army Corps’ work plan includes data from a North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study Schumer previously secured federal dollars for. Schumer said today’s funds originated from the FY16 Appropriations bill that he helped pass in the Congress at the end of last year. The bill included roughly $7 million in federal funding for “Flood and Storm Damage Reduction” in the Army Corps Investigations Account. Schumer said that the Army Corps allocated some of these account funds to begin work on Nassau County’s Back Bays feasibility study, which is a critical next step in the process of securing additional federal dollars for specific protections along the south shore.
 
This study will examine the coastal flooding that occurred during Superstorm Sandy, test various solutions to prevent such flooding and make a final recommendation on how best to alleviate flooding along Nassau's back bay communities.  The study will analyze various options from raising additional homes to tidal surge gates at the Jones and Rockaway Inlets. Schumer personally urged the Army Corps to make sure this Nassau project had the funding necessary to move forward in this year’s Army Corps’ work plan so locals can prioritize specific South Shore protections while working to secure the federal funding that will help to make them a reality.
 
Schumer further notes, the $200k in federal work plan dollars will allow the study to begin soon. As for next year, the Army Corps has also proposed an additional $300k in funding for this project, allowing the agency to finalize the Back Bays study.
 
Historically, Nassau County’s Back Bay communities have endured flooding on numerous occasions. After Superstorm Sandy, East Rockaway (Bay Park), Long Beach, Island Park, Oceanside, Baldwin, and Five Towns were extensively flooded. On the Long Beach barrier island, the ocean met the bay. According to the comprehensive U.S. Geological Survey’s Observed Storm Surge Mapper from October 29th, 2012, it is clear there was storm surge on both the oceanfront and Bayfront side of the barrier island. In addition to Superstorm Sandy, these south shore communities experience severe flooding during regular high tides and heavy rainstorms.  Freeport's Nautical Mile, Island Park's Austin Blvd. and Nassau Expressway in the Five Towns are prone to flooding during the lightest of rain storms.

 

STORY:

When it rains, it floods

 

When it rains or snows, it floods — as it did in East Rockaway’s Bay Park during high tide Monday morning and again in the evening, when the bay waters sloshed onto North Boulevard, making the roads impassable for hours, until the water receded again.

“Aside from [hurricanes] Sandy and Irene, today was the worst I’ve seen it in the 20 years that we’ve lived there,” said Heidi Chelius, who lives on North Boulevard. “The canal coming up and flooding is fairly normal when it’s a nor’easter-type storm … then it usually just comes up to the corner house — but now it came up to ours.”

Chelius’s 11-year-old daughter, Kate, told the Herald what it was like for her. “I got to school at 9:30 a.m.,” she said. “I was almost an hour late because of the tide. My mom had to carry me out of the house when it was safe for us to leave.”
Another Bay Park resident, Diana Harrison, said there was flooding on East, West and North boulevards, and her husband, Mark, reported that the roads were flooded north to within a couple of blocks of Main Street, going into the Village of East Rockaway.

Funds sought for ‘Back Bay’ project

At a press conference in Freeport on Monday, U.S. Sen. 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. The South Shore communities most prone to flooding stretch from Long Beach and the Five Towns north to Island Park and Oceanside, and east along the South Shore from Baldwin to Massapequa.

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