Hempstead Town Gets $1.7 Mil For Five Towns Flood Prevention

The Town of Hempstead has received more than $1.7 million from the Governor's Office of Storm Recovery to help mitigate flooding and improve drainage in Woodmere and Inwood.

“The Town of Hempstead will continuing pursuing all available avenues to alleviate and prevent flooding," said Supervisor Laura Gillen. “We are thankful to Governor Cuomo and his office for helping us rebuild stronger and smarter. These are cost-effective, long-term solutions for homeowners and small businesses.”

The funding, which was unanimously accepted during the most recent Town Board meeting, will be used to mitigate flooding in high-risk areas by installing backflow prevention devices and increasing pipe capacity in low lying areas.

Governor Andrews Cuomo mandated that Governor's Office of Storm Recovery's (GOSR) New York Rising Community Reconstruction (NYRCR) program be locally driven and inspired, enabling residents and business owners to become actively involved with their communities’ recovery. The Hempstead Town flood prevention and drainage initiative grew from this process to empower residents in making funding and project recommendations.

“We are significantly improving our communities by making our infrastructure more resilient to future storms and reducing recurrent flooding,” said Councilman Bruce Blakeman. “Our objective with this and all storm mitigation projects is to reduce property damage and the cost of responding to flood emergencies.”

During Superstorm Sandy, many vital road in low-lying areas were either closed or became impassable due to flooding. “Flooding cuts off vital evacuation routes for residents and first-responders,” Blakeman said. “These improvements will directly affect the safety of our residents."

New and improved stormwater infrastructure also carries significant health and environmental benefits — filtering out pollutants that spill into nearby waterways, including Motts Creek, Doxey Brook, Cedar Point Lake, Hook Creek, and Lagoon, and Fosters Brook Lower as well as areas around Head of Bay and Motts Basin.

Town officials say that design will likely begin this year and construction can possibly begin as early as next year.

Photo: Town of Hempstead