Evacuation order issued for eroded Head of the Harbor road, a month after storm

Head of the Harbor police have told seven homeowners that they must evacuate "immediately" because the only road into the narrow hillside neighborhood has been too badly eroded by storm damage for emergency vehicles to access their homes, though the police chief said in an interview he hoped not to enforce the order. 

Police sent certified letters to the residents off Mill Creek Road and went door to door Thursday telling them they needed to leave, said village Police Chief Chuck Lohmann, who also serves as the village emergency management coordinator. “At this point I am simply hopeful that people understand the gravity of the problem and leave voluntarily," he said Friday. "However, enforcement of that order is something that may come to be.”

Residents interviewed in the neighborhood Friday said they planned to stay for now as negotiations continue for permission to build a temporary access road over neighboring land.

Privately owned Mill Creek Road was badly damaged during an Aug. 18-19 storm, when more than 10 inches of rain poured over parts of Suffolk County’s North Shore, washing away pieces of asphalt to the road that connects to Harbor Road.

"The original erosion precluded any vehicular traffic on that road," Lohmann said. "The continued erosion of Mill Creek Road, over the last four to five days, is more visible and created, what I believe, is a dangerous situation." 

Mill Creek Road is the only entrance to the homes. It is part of 11 acres on the T. Bayles Minuse Mill Pond and Park owned by the Ward Melville Heritage Organization, which also manages the nearly 300-year-old Stony Brook Grist Mill.

Authorities said in the days after the storm that they hoped to build a temporary access road from nearby Emmet Drive over neighbors' property. They said this week that plan was still viable but taking longer than expected to implement. Residents would be allowed once that's completed, Head of the Harbor Mayor Michael Utevsky said.

Smithtown Highway Superintendent Robert Murphy said in a phone interview Friday that his crews could build the 1,000-foot temporary road in about three days but have not gotten permission from one of three residents whose property the road would use. He worried, he said, because night temperatures are dipping into the 50s, and heating oil trucks are unable to deliver unless the temporary road gets built.

Lohmann also cited jurisdictional confusion as an impediment. "There are multiple layers of entities that have been involved in this disaster, and there's been some voids in response," he said.

He did not elaborate, but the geography of the area is complicated: Head of the Harbor is a political subdivision of Smithtown, adjacent to Brookhaven Town, and Mill Pond Road is owned by the Ward Melville Heritage Organization.

Approvals and construction could take anywhere from days to "a couple weeks," Utevsky said. "We expect this will work. It's just taking longer to work out the details: legal, engineering. We are optimistic that in a few days we'll see shovels on the ground." 

The August floodwaters also broke through a dam, washing away Harbor Road and draining Mill Pond, which sits at the bottom of Mill Creek Road. Officials at the Heritage Organization have asked for state and federal help in repairing the road after they hired an engineering firm. 

Gov. Kathy Hochul this week requested a major disaster declaration from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide funding to local governments and eligible nonprofits. It also would include funding available for individual projects and homeowners for disaster-caused expenses that may not be covered by insurance. Funding must be approved by FEMA and President Joe Biden.

Lohmann said residents have driven SUVs up to the paved area to leave their properties. Other services, including mail, trash and school bus access, were suspended after the storm.

State Sen. Mario Mattera (R-St. James), who has advocated for state and federal help for the area, said an impassible road was not the only problem residents face. "A lot of folks didn't have flood insurance, because they weren't in a flood zone," he said. "We depended on aged infrastructure that's antiquated" and was not built to process almost a foot of rainwater that fell in a matter of hours, Mattera said. 

Residents on Friday declined to speak by name during the sensitive negotiations. Mill Pond's once-dry bed had refilled, bringing back swans, ducks and a kayaker, but residents said high tide had once more flooded part of the road.