FEMA awards $4.6 million for Sandy-related repairs

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Four years after Hurricane Sandy tore through communities along the South Shore, U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, along with U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice, announced Monday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would provide $4.6 million in federal recovery funding to the City of Long Beach and the Island Park and Lawrence school districts.

“This federal investment will help educate our students in a safe and learning-friendly environment, and that’s why I’m pleased to announce FEMA funding to help pay for Sandy-related repairs at Island Park’s Francis X. Hegarty Elementary School and Lawrence High School,” Schumer said in a statement. “Moreover, federal funding to help pay for repairs to the City of Long Beach’s municipal garage will help make sure local taxpayers are not left on the hook for these much-needed expenses.”

Repairs to Francis X. Hegarty Elementary School, which was flooded by nearly four feet of water during Sandy, and Lawrence High School, which closed after the storm due to extensive flood damage and corroded electrical wiring, cost the Island Park and Lawrence districts nearly $1.5 million each. Damage to Long Beach’s municipal parking garage, meanwhile, totaled more than $1.6 million.

The elementary school houses kindergarten through fourth grade, and Island Park Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Rosmarie Bovino said the money would fund infrastructure improvements.

“We are thrilled,” Bovino said. “This FEMA funding will be a great help to Island Park as our district and community are still recovering from the extreme damage sustained during Superstorm Sandy four years ago. The majority of the money will be used for the Hegarty infrastructure project that requires new pilings under the Warwick Road side of the building.

“The projected timetable is next summer,” she continued. “This is the result of a tremendous amount of paperwork the district has managed and completed with diligence and tenacity for nearly four years. It is also the result of meetings upon meetings with FEMA and others, being sure to keep Island Park schools at the forefront of their minds. It has been a long, hard slog … We are very thankful to Senators Schumer and Gillibrand and Representative Rice for their work in supporting our students’ educational experiences and learning environments.”

Lawrence School Board President Murray Forman said that the district has now received a total of $5 million in reimbursements since Sandy, and work continues to refurbish the schools.

“These funds are critical to the district’s ongoing effort to restore Lawrence High School to its pre-Sandy condition,” Forman said. “We look forward to our legislators’ continued support as we complete the restoration of Lawrence High School for the benefit of the children of our community.”

Along with the school districts, FEMA also awarded $1.6 million for repairs to Long Beach’s municipal garage, which was among the $200 million in damage the city suffered during Sandy. In 2013, Schumer and Gillibrand announced that the federal government would cover 90 percent of public-property repair costs for storm-affected areas, and FEMA has already reimbursed the city for some big projects, including the $42 million reconstruction of Long Beach’s 2.2-mile boardwalk.

“We would like to again thank Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand and Rep. Rice for aggressively advocating on our behalf and helping to secure this reimbursement funding,” said Long Beach City Council Vice President Anthony Eramo. “Much like the city’s garage, many of our facilities were damaged during the storm, and reimbursements like this have enabled us to rebuild a stronger, smarter, safer Long Beach.”

As of February, FEMA’s Sandy Recovery Office reported that $14.2 billion had been given to state, local and tribal governments, while $1.4 million went to disaster survivors in New York and New Jersey. The funding to Long Island is the most recent example of the ongoing reimbursement four years later.

“This funding represents the continued commitment from our federal government to support our recovery efforts and ensure that taxpayers, local governments and school districts aren’t forced to bear the costs of badly needed repairs,” Rice said. “As we approach the fourth anniversary of Sandy, I’m pleased that we helped secure these funds for the Island Park and Lawrence school districts and the City of Long Beach, and I’ll keep working to make sure all of our communities get the resources they need to fully recover.”