Suffolk evaluates storm damage as it readies for recovery, hopeful of state, federal aid 

As Suffolk County officials assessed the enormous destruction left by more than 9 inches of rainfall Sunday, they urged residents and business owners to report property damage in an effort to qualify for state and federal recovery aid. 

Reporting through an online portal on the county website could help the county tally the storm’s economic impact and potentially unlock federal dollars to rebuild, said Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine, who met with representatives of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday.

Municipalities have until Friday to report damage to the online portal, but there is no deadline for residents.

"We’re going to see if we can qualify you for federal and state assistance in every possible way," Romaine said during a news conference at Blydenburgh County Park in Smithtown on Tuesday.

The financial threshold of damage for a municipality to qualify for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency is $37 million, officials said.

As of Tuesday morning, 1,000 Suffolk residents had sent a report through the county website, said county Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services acting Commissioner Rudy Sunderman.

Representatives of both Schumer and Gov. Kathy Hochul have said their staffers are touring sites throughout the county and collecting information.

Hochul, in a statement Tuesday, said: "As families and businesses look to rebuild, we are making every effort to help Suffolk County residents get the assistance they need."

Kate Macedo, a FEMA spokeswoman, said in a statement Tuesday: "Once the assessments are complete, the State will determine if the impacts are of a severity and magnitude beyond their capability and may submit a request for a disaster declaration, typically within 30 days of the event."

Residents are asked to seek cost estimates for repairs and to save receipts. 

The governor's office said residents can get information about insurance coverage and documenting losses at the state's Disaster Hotline at 800-339-1759. The hotline will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Friday, the governor's office said.

Long road to recovery

Romaine said the county will rebuild the dam at Stump Pond in Blydenburgh County Park and restore the pond. Hydrostatic pressure from the rainfall undermined the sediment beneath the structure, destroying the approximately 60-foot dam and emptying the pond into the Nissequogue River.

The previously underwater tree stumps that give the pond its name were visible for the first time since 1798, the year the pond was created, Romaine said.

"It's going to be a long time, but we are going to rebuild in this county, and we are going to rebuild this park," he said.

Suffolk Department of Public Works Commissioner Charles Bartha said the county already has met with a contractor and is assessing the cost. Meanwhile, DPW is compiling a list of all dams and sumps throughout the county and is evaluating the structures.

"We're in a new era in which we have to make sure that our infrastructure is strong enough to face what Mother Nature is throwing our way," Romaine said.

Brookhaven Town officials are beginning the process of rebuilding the Mill Pond dam under Harbor Road in Stony Brook with the hopes of securing federal dollars for the likely multimillion-dollar project.

"We are proceeding as if that is going to happen with the hope we will be filing for FEMA funds," Brookhaven Town Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro said.

Losquadro said the town is working with Ronkonkoma-based Hayduk Engineering LLC to develop a cost estimate to rebuild the dam. He estimated the design and permitting process could take a year, with another year for construction, and plans to discuss the possibility of a temporary solution with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Losquadro said the town provided dumpsters on Tuesday for volunteers to contain the debris from a nearby home that collapsed into the waterway.

The governor's office said all state roads affected by the storm since have reopened, except state Route 25A between Mills Pond Road in Smithtown and Stony Brook Road in Brookhaven.

Rescues from torrential downpours

Devastated communities in northern Suffolk were cleaning up Tuesday after the rainfall flooded homes and roadways, burst dams, emptied ponds and forced residents to evacuate.

The storm moved in Sunday overnight, then slowed down and stalled in a pattern that meteorologists said was difficult to predict. That released narrow but intense bands of rain over several communities, meteorologists said, dumping more than 9 inches and causing catastrophic flooding on Suffolk's North Shore.

The water was so high on Christian Loy’s street in Rocky Point that the street sign was underwater. So was his white van, which he scrambled on top of at one point during Monday’s torrential downpour to try to save himself.

Next door, an elderly neighbor evacuated to her attic as water rose in her living room. She was screaming, and Loy, 48, braved the waters to go help her and her husband as local firefighters also came to their aid.

"They rescued us from death’s door," said the neighbor, Yvonne Montesantos, 73. "We survived with our lives, nothing else."

It was a surreal scene on Hagerman Landing Road in the middle of the night as an unpredicted downpour suddenly turned local streets into deep rivers.

"I didn’t know what was going on," Loy said Tuesday. He recalled thinking: "Is this a dream?"

When he came outside and saw his van completely underwater, "I was just blown away."

The Rocky Point Fire Department came and put life jackets on the neighbors as if it was a rescue in the middle of the Long Island Sound.

The street was badly flooded, partly because it sits at the bottom of a bowl, with water from all sides rushing in. It lifted up Montesantos’ red Hyundai Sonata and left the rear of the vehicle wedged against a tree three feet off the ground.

Loy, an electrician, had just spent $10,000 on a new motor and $6,000 on the transmission of his van, which he uses for his work. The flood ruined it, along with everything in his one-story house.

"Everything in my house is going in the garbage, "he said. "I own nothing now. “

Newlyweds Ron Borgese and Hui Wan had only purchased their Main Street home in Stony Brook about a year ago, Borgese said.

The two had recited their vows underneath a tree that fell on their house along with a telephone pole, while the backside of their house collapsed.

Their plan for Tuesday afternoon was to go shopping, he said, as the only possessions they had were the clothes on their backs.

"So as sad as it is, we're very blessed, we could have been even more affected in a worse way than we were," he said.

Scores of people descended on T. Bayles Minuse Mill Pond and Park in Stony Brook on Tuesday to stare at the now-drained pond and take photos. Signs reading "unstable ground do not enter" hung on the erected fence, and a gentle stream flowed through the middle of the pond bottom, past downed utility poles and into nearby Mill Creek.

Alice McHale of St. James was among those taking in the sight.

"All the wildlife is gone," she said. "The turtles, the fish, the swans. I hope they got out."

In Riverhead, three beaches have about $10,000 in total damage, said Tim Hubbard, the town’s supervisor. Those areas saw damage that included clogged drain pipes that led to flooding and some of the blacktop on parking lots being ripped apart.

The town’s engineering department has been tasked with listing any needed repairs, Hubbard said. It will submit them for state or federal aid if they are eligible.

"We were very lucky compared to what I'm seeing happen in the Stony Brook area," he said in a phone interview.

The National Weather Service said Long Island can expect to stay dry in the coming week now that the system has moved off to the northeast.