When devastating floods swept Long Island last week, causing up to $100 million in damage, one of the areas severely affected was a dam at Blydenburgh County Park in Smithtown.
The nearly 60-foot-high dam broke, flooding part of the Jericho Turnpike and leaving Stump Pond almost completely dry. Suffolk County officials said the dam will have to be replaced, joining a list of homes, roads and other facilities damaged by the record rain.
Flood insurance and grants can help individual homeowners repair storm damage, but Suffolk County officials are eyeing federal funds made available by President Joe Biden with Sunday’s emergency declaration to repair or replace damaged infrastructure like the dam.
“We are facing an ecological, environmental and economic catastrophe,” Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine told Newsday on Monday.
What you should know
- Suffolk County officials intend to use federal emergency funds to repair or replace infrastructure damaged in last week’s storms.
- The required Repair projects are a pair of breaking dams and washed away roads.
- Federal aid covers 75% of the eligible costs, while the state or local authorities cover the remaining 25%.
Key for federal funds
Romaine said Biden’s emergency declaration will be critical for repairs, such as restoring navigability to the channels in Stony Brook Harbor – which are crucial to tourism and boating in the area. Romaine said he wants federal funding for other repair projects, such as Mill Pond, which was drained after the dam failed.
Romaine said he hopes the dam at Blydenburgh County Park can be repaired by winter with the help of disaster relief.
Declaring a disaster authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide direct federal assistance, which can be used for “life-saving and life-sustaining measures to protect public health and safety during emergencies,” the agency said.
According to FEMA, which does not disburse the money, 75 percent of eligible costs will be covered by direct federal aid, while the remaining 25 percent will be covered by states and local governments.
Instead, FEMA pays another federal agency to carry out emergency response.
FEMA’s emergency declaration could remain in effect until “there is no longer an imminent threat requiring federal assistance,” the agency said.
In Brookhaven, Supervisor Dan Panico said Monday the city’s priority is to restore and rebuild roads and infrastructure damaged by the storm in Rocky Point, Stony Brook, Setauket and Shoreham.
Panico said it could cost as much as $10 million to rebuild Harbor Road in Stony Brook, which washed away early on the morning of Aug. 19. The road, which runs half through Brookhaven and half through the town of Smithtown, is a major access road to the village of Head of the Harbor in Smithtown.
Restoration of the mill pond
Stony Brook’s Mill Pond, which was turned into a puddle by the Harbor Road dam breach during last week’s storms, needs to be restored, Panico said.
Panico and Councilwoman Jane Bonner said they are working with Rocky Point residents who have lost vehicles or other personal items that are not covered by insurance.
Smithtown suffered significant damage from the storm. Floodwaters entered the basement of City Hall and damaged the elevator. Several sports fields were badly eroded. Water flowed into the Smithtown Public Library, endangering a historical collection, Newsday reported.
The storms left about $8 million in damage to the town, but Smithtown officials expect the damage figure to be even higher when they quantify the destruction.
The key to funding these repairs is obtaining state assistance, said Nicole Garguilo, a Smithtown spokeswoman.
The floods left Mill Pond almost completely dry.
The pond is part of an 11-acre property owned by the Ward Melville Heritage Organization, which also owns the nearly 300-year-old Stony Brook Grist Mill. The mill withstood the storm.
The floods also cut off access to seven homes on Mill Creek Road when about 480 feet of the narrow road above the pond collapsed, said the organization’s president, Gloria Rocchio, adding that engineers were inspecting the road Monday after the flood caused about $4 million in damage.
Rocchio said she plans to meet with officials on Tuesday to discuss disaster relief funds, which she hopes will help repair roads and the dam and eventually refill the pond so the flour mill can resume operations.
“We don’t have the resources. We don’t know if the road can be repaired, but the declaration of a state of emergency was fantastic,” Rocchio said. “Now we have to take it one step at a time and divide the tasks to address each element.”
