Suffolk storm: 45 homes have major damage from extreme rainfall, new county figures show

The number of Suffolk homes with reported storm damage grew on Thursday as county teams knocked on doors from Huntington to eastern Brookhaven Town and residents continued to catalog the destruction.

As of the end of the day Wednesday, 45 homes were determined to have major damage, 793 had minor damage and 706 were classified as affected by the storm, according to Suffolk County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services Commissioner Rudy Sunderman.

The numbers will almost certainly continue to grow, he said.

"If residents know of houses destroyed, they need to let us know," Sunderman said. "Every day, every hour we continue to work on this assessment."

Those numbers were released as more than 2,000 people logged their damage through a portal on the county website suffolkcountyny.gov., said Michael Martino, a spokesman for Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine.

The county is collecting that information in hopes of qualifying for federal assistance for the destruction left by up to 9.4 inches of rain in some areas.

The torrential rain, which came down in intense bands that stalled over some communities, ravaged parts of Smithtown, Stony Brook, Rocky Point, Commack and other places, washing out roads, battering homes and displacing wildlife. Now, the county, residents and business owners are taking their first steps toward recovery.

Thursday, Smithtown and Head of the Harbor Village were moving forward with plans to quickly construct a temporary road allowing homeowners on the badly storm-damaged Mill Creek Road access to their properties.

State, village and town officials as well as nearby property owners met Thursday morning to discuss the road that will connect through Emmet Drive and will be constructed by town highway department crews. The pass-through will run through two private properties, access to which has been granted by the owners, town and village officials said.

"From here, our town and village attorneys will connect, secure all necessary paperwork and our traffic safety department will begin mark outs for utilities," Smithtown Town Supervisor Ed Wehrheim said in a statement. "As soon as the paperwork is complete, our highway department stands ready to build the temporary roadway, which will provide homeowners with accessibility until a more permanent solution can be constructed."

The water pressure that broke the dam under nearby Harbor Road in Stony Brook destroyed a narrow section of Mill Creek Road, cutting access to seven homes, including those of families such as Thomas Rubio and his three children, ages 10, 11 and 15, who will be starting school in the Three Village School District in the next two weeks.

Wehrheim’s spokeswoman, Nicole Gargiulo, said construction on the road will likely begin in the next several days.

Residents of Mill Creek Road, which is privately owned by the Ward Melville Heritage Organization, are attempting to access their homes by driving off-road through an easement on a property behind them.

Rubio, 61, said he was awoken by a firefighter just before 5 a.m. Monday, checking on his house and letting him know that his road had been washed out. His house is safe, but days later, he said his family and neighbors are trying to figure out what to do next.

"I feel isolated, because I’m stuck," Rubio said Wednesday. "I can walk through the woods and get out to my car ... but it's not something that you can go in and out."

Head of the Harbor Police Chief Chuck Lohmann on Wednesday noted there was no way for an ambulance or other emergency vehicles to access the residential neighborhood.

"We have seven dwellings that people can't access in an emergency. We want to try to help them, but these are very challenging circumstances. This is a small village, and this is an enormous problem," Lohmann said. "The danger is, if there were to be an emergency at any one of those homes, we can't get there. We certainly can't get there in a timely way."

Rubio and other residents are trying to make do. He said he was preparing to hike with his children through the woods to get groceries. He said it’s quicker to cut through the woods behind his house rather than walk down the hill along the destroyed roadway.

"You have to think about everyone who has to carry bags of food through the woods and where to bring garbage," Rubio said. "No one is driving in."

In Stony Brook, volunteers were in a race against time on Thursday to save fish in the depleted Mill Pond, drained after a nearby dam burst from the extreme rainfall.

Volunteers waded into the muddy waters with nets in hand to rescue about 10 male and female European carp.

"Water's literally disappearing by the day, and these fish are too massive to live in this puddle, so we're trying to do what we can to save them," said Eric De Bono, charter adviser at the Stony Brook Mill Pond Fishing Club.

De Bono, who helped organize the event, said seeing the pond's condition after the storm had left him in tears and he felt he needed to do something.

He tried to get about a dozen people to save the fish. On Thursday, nearly 50 volunteers showed up. The volunteers left six fish behind to see if they could survive in the water.

The efforts of the volunteers, at times, meant standing in water as the ground shifted underneath them and the fish swam through their legs.

"I just found a spot where it was deep and it was cold, and they were right there," said Ryan Cullinane, who caught several fish and is a resident of Head of the Harbor. "You could feel them hitting your feet, and they're these massive, heavy fish."

The rescued fish are staying close, about a mile away, in an undisclosed location as environmental officials decide their future. 

Janine Bendicksen, director of wildlife at the Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown, said she had been looking at the surviving carp in the pond Wednesday. She described them as being an invasive species not typically relocated.

Bendicksen said she would have chosen to leave the carp in the pond. Creating a trench from a nearby stream of water could have increased the water levels, and then the fish could have been fed, she said.

"It would have been a suitable habitat to just have left them," she said.

Now that the fish have been moved, where they end up is key. She warned that placing them in another pond could cause problems in that body of water. Bendicksen said a separate tank or area — where the fish can have oxygen — could be OK as long as there is nothing else living there.

Meanwhile on Thursday, Suffolk health officials warned residents to use caution when handling the sediment left behind by Sunday’s storm as it can contain bacteria and microorganisms from cesspool waste.

Residents should use shovels to remove thick deposits of sediment and hose down the rest, according to the health department. Protective gear like goggles and gloves are also recommended.

"As everything recedes, there's going to be some sediment left behind; some of that may have some bacteria in it," Suffolk County Health Commissioner Dr. Gregson Pigott told Newsday. "You have to be careful when you clean this stuff up, because you don't want it to get into your eyes or ingest it in some kind of way."

Those with concerns over the integrity of their cesspools should contact a professional. If sewage has backed up into the basement, clean the area and disinfect the floor.

Those who suspect an oil spill should call the state Department of Environmental Conservation spill hotline at 1-800-457-7362. More information is available on the state Health Department website at nyhealth.gov.