Gov. Hochul secures federal aid for Suffolk as storm ravages county
By Toni-Elena Gallo
Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R) and Town of Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico (R), declared a State of Emergency, following the Aug. 18-19 devastating storm.
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) responded by procuring President Joe Biden’s (D) approval for a federal Emergency Declaration. This allows for federal resources and assistance to be provided for the necessary repairs, prevalent in hard-hit western and middle Suffolk. FEMA will provide emergency protective measures, such as the protection of critical infrastructure facilities. According to the state’s website, “with this Emergency Declaration secured, New York’s disaster recovery experts are continuing to work with local and federal partners, to determine the state’s ability to also request a federal Major Disaster Declaration and low-interest loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration.”
Hochul toured the damage of both Stony Brook University and the site of the Mill Pond dam collapse. At the event, Hochul said, “In the wake of unprecedented rainfall, we continue to support Suffolk County to ensure those impacted can get back to life as usual as quickly as possible. … But seeing the people of Long Island come together to rebuild, shows the true strength of New York.”
Over in Port Jefferson, the toll of the extreme weather event is still being felt.
Rob Gitto, of the Gitto Group in Port Jefferson village, was blindsided by the severity of the storm.
“We were watching the storm closely, as we do with other major storms. I went to bed at 11;30 p.m. We checked our cameras, watched our radars and it looked like everything was going to stop in an hour,” Gitto said.
“But, this was a unique storm, where it apparently came from the North to the South, so it was a different situation. In fact, one of my employees was on standby, and went down to both [our] buildings, at around 12:30 p.m., and everything seemed fine. But, I just happened to wake up at 1:30 a.m., and whenever I can see the floors of one of the lobbies glistening, I know it’s water,” he added.
Gitto went down to the area immediately, and walked into a disaster area.
“Unfortunately, there was nowhere to pump water at that point. This particular area is taking on quite a bit of the village’s stormwater. You can see it in video footage, coming down the hill, and hitting the CVS, Barnum property, first, and then it seeped into The Brookport property.”
He said that Brookport, on Barnum Avenue, was made with the “latest and greatest” drainage requirements, but the almost-11 inches overwhelmed the system. Flood doors were on some of the water entry points, but those were, also, quickly overcome. The properties do have flood insurance.
Gitto said his main priority in the coming months will be to replace the cardio equipment in the two gyms, rip up the carpets, take out the damp sheetrock and repainting.
Rocky Point is not faring much better. Hagerman Landing Road, a dead end street, had five homes severely flooded.
In the coming weeks, more information will become available about updated financial aid disbursements.
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