Trying to hold back the water

Whenever heavy rain is in the forecast, Mira Konigsberg fears for her property.

Mira and her husband, Phillip, have lost five cars to flooding on Marbridge Road in Lawrence in the past four years. “We have lived here 33 years, and for the first 15 to 20 years here there were no problems,” Mira said. “But now, the minute it rains, we move the cars to Dogwood [Lane]. There is a fear factor every time it rains.”

On the north side of Peninsula Boulevard, near Lawrence High School in Cedarhurst, Oxford, Albemarle and Arlington places and the high school and its grounds were severely flooded in Hurricane Sandy by rising water from Jamaica Bay. “Bulkheading was destroyed,” said Cedarhurst Mayor Andrew J. Parise. “We filed with FEMA,” he added, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, “but only received $4,000.”

A federally funded survey of Nassau County’s South Shore is expected to be conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “Hopefully, through the study,” Parise said, “we can get the bulkhead replaced.”

Hook Creek, which separates North Woodmere from Queens, rose several feet during the storm, and flooded many of the homes that line Flanders Drive in North Woodmere. There are numerous low-lying properties in the area, which has an average elevation of 6 feet above sea level.

One Flanders Drive resident, who declined to be identified, said she wonders why the county doesn’t install metal barriers like the ones on the city side of Hook Creek.

“The county is looking at ways to help alleviate the flooding,” said Michael Martino, a spokesman for Nassau’s Department of Public Works, “but the low elevation of the area makes it susceptible to these events.”

According to Lawrence Mayor Martin Oliner, over-building in low-lying areas with high water tables, such as Sutton Park and Lawrence Bay Park, and on Meadow Lane and Marbridge Road, has exacerbated the problem by reducing the amount of land that can absorb storm water. The installation of two tidal check valves on Rock Hall Road has significantly reduced flooding in Sutton Park and Lawrence Bay Park. The focus is now on Meadow Lane and Marbridge Road. The valves, which are also call tide or flood gates, are meant to automatically control water flow to alleviate flooding.

At the June 13 Lawrence village board meeting, residents once again voiced their frustration with the trustees’ deliberate pace in solving their flooding problem. “The golf course is consistently flooding, filling up like a lake, and the drains are not cleaned out,” said David Samuels, a Monroe Street resident. Monroe Street, off Meadow Lane, backs up to the golf course at the Lawrence Yacht & Country Club, which is owned and operated by the village.

Oliner said that the village has not ignored residents. “We have had multiple meetings,” he said. “This takes a lot of money. We are going to the county and trying to tap into the Sandy funds.” Residents and village officials were expected to meet on June 26 at Village Hall.

After consultation with engineers, Oliner said that “both technologically sound and financially feasible” solutions are being reviewed. It is estimated that a full-scale solution would cost more than $1 million, he added.

Money is also a factor in Cedarhurst, Parise said. “There is a lot of work to do,” he said. “All those roads have to be redone.” Village officials met with Melville-based Cameron Engineering, and they expect a full report from Cameron in the near future. The exact cost is not yet known, but the mayor said that borrowing the money needed for the repairs is an option.

To mitigate flooding in North Woodmere, the county installed a tide gate at Rosedale Road that is designed to reduce the flow of water into Valley Stream Brook, the freshwater section of the area’s watershed. “The county will continue to monitor the area,” Martino said, “and keep all tidal gates and creeks cleared of debris before and after storms.”

Have an opinion about the flooding in these areas? Send your letter to the editor to jbessen@liherald.com.