Twelve Long Island substations that were flooded in Sandy, including one that powers Long Beach, will be raised using about $72 million in federal funding to “help Long Island’s electrical grid become more resilient,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced.
"Superstorm Sandy revealed serious weaknesses in the management and operation of the power utility on Long Island. Now we are investing in giving Long Island ratepayers a stronger and better utility that will be ready for the next storm," Governor Cuomo said. "Today we are building on these efforts with the strengthening of these key vulnerable substations, which will help protect Long Island residents from outages during major storms."
The raising of equipment in all 12 stations is underway, and temporary flood walls have been erected to protect the sites during construction, according to the state. An additional 20 substations across Long Island are located in the floodplain, and could be impacted by flooding from a future hurricane dependent on the path the storm takes. Federal funding will be dedicated to harden these substations, as well.
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In all, 32 flood-prone coastal power transmission and distribution substations will be raised with the money.
Other state measures to fortify Long Island power grid include “investing $16.5 million to trim 2,000 miles of trees along the electric system, removing about 1,000 hazardous damaged and diseased trees outside the normal trim zone capable of causing outages during major storms, and upgrading the size and strength of poles that house key equipment to better withstand the effects of hurricane strength winds.”
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The other substations that were flooded by Sandy that will be elevated include:
Long Beach Substation (On Long Beach Resource Recovery Property N/O Bay Drive W/O Riverside Blvd, Long Beach, NY)
Rockaway Beach Substation (S/S Beach Channel Drive W/O Beach 108 Street , Rockaway beach, NY)
Arverne Substation (End of Beach 53 Street S/S Rockaway Beach Blvd, Far Rockaway, NY)
Barrett Substation (N/S Long Beach Road, Island park, NY)
Captree Island Substation (E/S Captree Causeway, Captree Island, NY)
Robert Moses Substation (N/S Ocean Shore Parkway E/O St. Park Water Tower, Fire Island, NY)
Fair Harbor Substation (C/O Bay Walk and Oak Walk, Fire Island, NY)
Ocean Beach Substation (Ocean Beach, Fire Island, NY)
Fire Island Pines Substation (Fire Island Pines, Fire Island, NY)
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