Chronic flooding plagues West Islip residents who press town after 10 years of complaints

On rainy, stormy days, floodwaters on Eaton Lane sometimes rise so high that Karen Berger can't move her family's handicap van out of the driveway.

Her house, raised after Superstorm Sandy, usually survives unscathed. But with a daughter who uses a wheelchair, the West Islip resident fears an emergency could leave the family trapped.

"I can walk through the water if I need to get out in an emergency. But she’s really stuck here," she said of her daughter, Christina, 32.

Chronic flooding has plagued Eaton Lane through all the 40 years that Berger, 65, has lived there, she said. But it’s gotten worse over the past years, and residents say they are still waiting for help despite nearly a decade of complaints with the Town of Islip and other government agencies they shared with Newsday. Three residents speaking on behalf of the  approximately 50 homes  lining the street recently took their concerns to a town board meeting. 

The community is seeking an array of solutions: They want the town to raise the bulkhead at the end of the street, improve the drainage system or raise the road.

Parts of Eaton Lane and some neighboring streets are classified as special flood hazard areas by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. That means they are considered high risk, with at least a one-in-four chance of flooding over the life of a 30-year mortgage.

When it rains, water rises from the storm drains and sometimes pours over the bulkhead from the bay at the end of the street. In the winter, the pooling water might look like an icy slush; in warmer weather, it might seem residents chose to live along a river rather than near a bay.

Residents say the flooding gets worse every year — a problem experts say is fueled by sea-level rise and an increase in rainfall fueled by climate change. 

Islip: Need 'assistance' from feds

Asked about flooding issues and mitigation efforts for Eaton Lane, Islip Town said it "does not have the resources or the capacity to solve this problem on its own."

The town is seeking "assistance" and "direct involvement" from the Army Corps of Engineers to assess potential solutions, spokeswoman Caroline Smith said.

Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Sayville), who represents the area, also made a similar request, according to the Army Corps. 

In response to those requests, New York representatives from the federal agency recently visited West Islip "to evaluate conditions and see if there might be additional options to mitigate flooding," Army Corps spokesman James D'Ambrosio said.

Work to resolve "the flooding situation on Eaton Lane has been an ongoing process" for the town, Smith said. "That said, New York State and the Army Corps of Engineers are an integral and essential part of any resolution regarding the ongoing flooding on Eaton Lane, along with other low-lying areas experiencing similar problems in the Town of Islip."

Garbarino's office pointed to a federal bill recently passed by the House of Representatives that includes language authorizing feasibility studies for several Long Island towns, including for a flood risk management project in the Town of Islip that would encompass the West Islip hamlet.

The bill is currently under review in the Senate.

An informal coalition of Eaton Lane residents also described Suffolk County hazard mitigation plans that over the years have recommended raising the street on Eaton Lane and installing backup power for two drainage pump stations in the neighborhood. 

County spokesman Michael Martino said the Town of Islip is responsible for initiating and coordinating mitigation efforts on Eaton Lane.

Although there are no formal estimates of mitigation costs for Eaton Lane, communities across Long Island are using various methods to address flooding concerns, including Long Beach, which last summer used a $6.5 million state grant to install a pressurized sewer system powerful enough to pump water from storm drains into Reynolds Channel even against a high tide.

Residents push for action

Tom Connors, 36, has spearheaded efforts to push Islip to address chronic flooding on the street since he moved to Eaton Lane a few months ago.

Of a recent private meeting with the town, he said, "They basically acknowledged that they’ve known about the problem and then basically said that it’s over their head."

Smith confirmed the June 18 meeting and said the town has met with a consultant to assess the bulkhead at the end of Eaton Lane and undertaken a review of the existing pump "with the intent of developing a long-term plan to prevent some of the excessive flooding in the community."

D'Ambrosio, spokesman for the Army Corps, said homeowners on Eaton Lane will be eligible to elevate their houses through the agency’s Fire Island to Montauk Point, or FIMP, project, a $1.7 billion coastal storm risk management project that covers 83 miles along Long Island’s Atlantic coast. 

The New York District of the federal agency plans to host a series of public outreach meetings this fall about the voluntary home elevations program, which will start in 2026, D'Ambrosio said.

The Army Corps has so far identified 4,400 homes and structures in Suffolk County eligible for the program, all of which would need to be individually evaluated and issued a design to mitigate flood risks, according to a recent update on the FIMP project.

But many on the street, including Berger, already have raised their homes.

Berger said she used a state grant and dug into savings to cover the approximately $600,000 to elevate her home after Sandy wreaked havoc on the street in 2012.

Berger recalled one rainy day when floodwaters rose so high in the street that her family couldn’t get to their house. She called the fire department for help and was told the first responders rescue people from floods; they don’t drive them into rising waters.

Causes of flooding

Stony Brook University professor Henry Bokuniewicz, an expert in coastal groundwater issues and shoreline change, cited several potential causes for the increased flooding on Eaton Lane.

An increase in rainfall due to climate change, he said, could inundate the area’s drainage systems, which simply weren’t built to accommodate the mounting volume of water.

Between 1901 and 2022, the total annual precipitation across the state increased between 10% and 20%, according to the New York State Climate Impacts Assessment, a report assembled by climate experts working with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

Annual precipitation across the state is expected to continue to increase between 6% and 17% by 2100, with the largest increases projected for New York City, the Catskills and the lower Hudson River Valley, according to the report.

Sea level is also rising at about an inch per decade, Bokuniewicz said. "That doesn't sound like much, but on a flat road that doesn't have much elevation, it could make a big difference in how drainage occurs."

"The other possibility is a change in storm surges or the tide itself," he said.

State data indicates sea levels around Long Island are expected to rise 13 to 25 inches over the next 25 years, and as much as 69 inches by 2100, Newsday has reported. The rising water is expected to reshape the coast and disrupt basic infrastructure, from roadways to the electrical grid.

According to an analysis of federal data from NextLI, a Newsday initiative that publishes research relevant to Long Island, flooding could pass Eaton Lane to parts of Montauk Highway, just north of the street, by 2050.

Because Eaton Lane and neighboring communities are in a flood hazard area, homes and business owners with mortgages from federally regulated or insured lenders are required to buy flood insurance, according to FEMA.

The average annual added cost of flood insurance in West Islip is $1,185, Newsday has reported.

Bokuniewicz added: "There are a lot of places around Long Island where these kinds of isolated pockets of extreme flooding have been occurring. And I always go back to the possibly antiquated design of the drainage system."

Climate experts and government agencies have predicted a host of problems for flood-prone areas like Eaton Lane, including homes that will lose value as they become uninsurable and financial strain on local governments struggling to maintain drainage systems and roads that persistently flood.

South Shore areas at risk

South Shore neighborhoods, from Freeport to Hampton Bays, could be especially hard-hit — even becoming uninhabitable, Newsday has reported.

Already, Eaton Lane residents are seeing the waters creep higher.

Connors, who has lost a car to flooding, described water that sometimes traps him in his home with his wife and year-old son. He didn’t know flooding was such an issue before he bought the house. Just days after moving in, he looked outside during a rainstorm and saw rising water.

"There was no nor’easter, there was no big event or anything like that," he said. Just rain, overwhelmed drains, and water with nowhere to go but up.

Other residents describing flooding on Eaton Lane said they’ve carried their kids on their backs to get them to the bus stop for school, worn waders to get home after a night out, and recalled the fire department rescuing a neighbor when she couldn’t get out of her house on her wedding day.

Neighbors also recounted missing important doctor appointments and days of work, losing wages and vacation time because they couldn’t get their cars out of their driveways. Like Connors, many have lost cars to the water.

The inhabitants of Eaton Lane say they have peppered representatives for help at all levels of government, with little to show for it.

In a 2021 email to former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Carpenter, Eaton Lane resident Kathy Manzione pleaded for help, describing rising tides and flooding in their street.

"Although many [of] our homes are raised, we cannot get in or out of our driveways for extended periods of time resulting in loss of work and income," she said.

"Please help us!" she added. "We have been trying to resolve this for years and need your help to push this much needed project forward."

One resident, Robert Walsh, 43, showed a Newsday reporter a packet of nearly 200 emails he sent to Islip Town over the years. The neighbors also provided Newsday with a petition sent to the Town of Islip in 2015 signed by nearly every homeowner on the street to resurface the road.

The town said it could not locate the petition as of Thursday evening, but said the road was refinished that year. 

In a response emailed to Connors and Walsh in May, Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter said the town has taken steps to mitigate flooding on the street by addressing drainage and pumping.

"Flooding is an ongoing challenge we face in all of our low-lying waterfront communities, and we have many blocks in areas such as West Islip, Oakdale, Sayville, and more that have experienced increased flooding," she said.

And yet — despite the flooding — none of the residents on Eaton Lane wants to leave.

They like the schools and their neighbors, they said, and it’s a beautiful place to live.

"We just need help from the town," Connors said. 

By Brianne Ledda

brianne.ledda@newsday.com@brianne_ledda

Brianne Ledda covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.