Suffolk County eyes FEMA funds to repair trail of storm damage

When ruinous flooding soaked Long Island last week and left a trail of damage of up to $100 million, among the places hit hard was a dam at Blydenburgh County Park in Smithtown.

The nearly 60-foot dam burst open, flooding a portion of Jericho Turnpike and nearly draining Stump Pond. Suffolk County officials said the dam would have to be replaced, joining a list of homes, roads and other facilities damaged by the record rainfall.

Flood insurance and grants can help individual homeowners with storm repairs, but Suffolk County officials are eyeing federal dollars made available with President Joe Biden’s emergency declaration Sunday to fix or replace damaged infrastructure like the dam.

“What we're facing is an ecological, an environmental, and an economic disaster,” Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine told Newsday on Monday.

Federal funds key

Romaine said Biden’s emergency declaration will be key to making repairs, such as restoring navigability of the channels in Stony Brook Harbor — key for tourism and boating in the area. Romaine said he wants federal funds for other repair projects like Mill Pond, which drained when its dam burst.

With disaster relief, Romaine said he hopes the dam at Blydenburgh County Park can be repaired by winter.

A disaster declaration allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency to give direct federal assistance, which can be used for “life-saving and life-sustaining actions to protect public health and safety during emergencies,” the agency said.

Direct federal assistance covers 75% of eligible costs while state or local governments pick up the remaining 25%, according to FEMA, which doesn't dole out the money.

Instead, FEMA pays another federal agency to do handle the emergency response work.

The FEMA emergency declaration can last until no “immediate threat that requires federal assistance," the agency said.

In Brookhaven Town, Supervisor Dan Panico said Monday the town’s priority is to restore and rebuild roads and infrastructure destroyed by the storm in Rocky Point, Stony Brook, Setauket and Shoreham.

Panico said it could cost as much as $10 million to rebuild Stony Brook's Harbor Road, which was washed out early on the morning of Aug. 19. The road, which is located half in Brookhaven Town and half in the Town of Smithtown, is a key access way to the Village of Head of the Harbor in Smithtown.

Restoring Mill Pond

Stony Brook's Mill Pond, which was drained to a puddle when a dam collapsed at Harbor Road during last week's storms, needs to be restored, Panico said.

Panico and Councilwoman Jane Bonner said they are working with residents in Rocky Point who lost vehicles and other personal belongings not covered by insurance.

Smithtown received significant damage from the storm. Floodwater entered the town hall’s basement, damaging the elevator. Multiple athletic fields had significant erosion. Water flowed into the Smithtown Public Library, placing at risk a historical collection, Newsday reported.

The storms left the town with roughly $8 million in damage, though Smithtown officials expect the price tag to go higher as they assess the destruction.

Key to funding those repairs is getting federal assistance, said Nicole Garguilo, a spokesperson for Smithtown.

The flood waters nearly drained Mill Pond.

The pond is part of 11 acres 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 floodwaters also cut off access to seven homes on Mill Creek Road when about 450 feet of the narrow road collapsed above the pond, said the organization’s president, Gloria Rocchio, adding that engineers were reviewing the road Monday after the flood caused about $4 million in damage.

Rocchio said she was planning to meet with officials Tuesday about the disaster relief funds, which she hoped would help lead to road repairs and fix the dam to eventually refill the pond so that the Grist Mill could function again.

“We don’t have the funds. We don’t know if the road can be repaired, but the state of emergency declaration was fantastic,” Rocchio said. “Right now, we have to take one step at a time and break it down into tasks to tackle each element.”