Sunday storm is a future warning

Suffolk County urgently needs federal and state help to repair the devastating damage to North Shore communities, some of which received up to 10 inches of rain in the storm that ravaged the area late Sunday night into Monday.

The most immediate concerns are the cleanup and the safety of residents; County Executive Ed Romaine warned that assessments of the devastation could be worse once drone footage is examined. Videos of breached roads, mudslides and extensive damage to homes and vehicles provided ample evidence for Romaine's declaration of a state of emergency, and for the quick and welcome action of federal and state representatives.

Beyond the repairs needed now, Romaine and Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico are correctly stressing the major infrastructure and engineering designs required to cope with the huge amounts of rain in short time frames that are now the reality, not the exception. What the rest of Long Island can't experience from the photos is the stench from sewage released by flooded cesspools that is now spread across lawns and roads and polluting local waterways. More sewers in Suffolk are the answer, and have been for a long time.

The historic area of Stony Book took a huge hit; Mill Pond is now drained. The area's catch basins, designed to hold runoff from a 3-inch rain, were way beyond inadequate. But even the most modern sumps designed for a 10-inch rain may now also be obsolete, warned Brookhaven Highway Superintendent Dan LoSquadro.

This latest storm is but the latest wake-up call that most of the infrastructure across our Island cannot handle the severe weather coming as the world's oceans warm and rainstorms become more frequent and intense. This means hard choices must be made about our coastal area, including abandoning building on bluffs and in low-lying areas. It means preserving as much land as possible so the rain can be better absorbed and replacing blacktop on our roads with a more permeable but more expensive pavement.

In Port Washington recently, a sea wall along Shore Road — much like the one near Mill Pond in Stony Brook that was destroyed Monday — was found to be badly compromised during preparation to install a new traffic light. Look under the proverbial rug in any community and there are bound to be similar trouble spots destined to appear in the next viral storm videos. Both counties must prioritize their most vulnerable locations in upping their defensive games.

Artificial intelligence models are being trained to better pinpoint local areas threatened by a storm's path, which should allow more time to prepare than the startling emergency alert buzz from a cellphone. Technology may help save lives but the harder work is marshaling the human intelligence and willingness to act needed to overcome the formidable challenges posed by climate change to a vulnerable island.