Experts: What flooding risks does Long Island face?

Remove our island from the equation and the first line of defense would be the South Shore of Long Island, where the Great South Bay would be meeting the Atlantic Ocean… Without Fire Island, there's no protection to what would be the South Shore of Long Island.

Look, we're in trouble. From the year 2010 to the year 2020, we've had 31 severe weather events which have cost the taxpayers, just in the state of New York, $100 billion. So we're not saying climate change is coming. We're saying climate change is here.

Sea level rise is most certainly a concern to the low-lying communities along the coastlines of Long Island. Total cost of the projects that the Corps has constructed along the shoreline coast over the last 50-plus years is easily up into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

There are times in the winter, even with no-name storms, big nor 'easters, that [our only food store] does get flooded. So we do need to address this infrastructure issue.

There are many different health issues that sort of get integrated into this larger problem of flooding that leaves folks with long term consequences to deal with... Mold in the air will contribute to triggering asthma attacks.

The shoreline base is shrinking and the roads are starting to flood a lot more frequently. And they're flooding from rain, but more importantly, they're flooding from the sea water coming up through the storm drains or over land.

When storms occur, power lines are brought down, and once you lose power, that can affect our ability to operate our wells.

We're raising roads. We're improving the storm infrastructure, our drainage infrastructure. We're providing for green infrastructure opportunities, places for stormwater to go and filter prior to entering the aquifers.

Really everyone on Long Island is in a flood zone. Anywhere can get [hit by] a storm and be inundated by water that hits the ground and somehow finds its way into your home and damages it.