Island Park gets millions in FEMA funding

Island Park is in the midst of a construction and fortification renaissance, while still recovering from Hurricane Sandy 10 years later. With the assistance of $33 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency money that arrived earlier this year, improvements in drainage were completed over the summer, and other projects to aid in storm mitigation are continuing.

In 2012, Sandy damaged 1,100 of the village’s 1,144 homes, numerous businesses and Village Hall.

A resilient and tight-knit community, Island Park has rebuilt over the past decade, but it has been only recently that FEMA money has been granted to aid in flood prevention and other work. Because of its proximity to water, the village fights perennial battles with sinkholes, potholes, erosion, drainage challenges and, of course, flooding.

An engineering consulting firm, Walden Environmental Engineering, compiled a “repetitive loss area” analysis of Island Park in May 2020. The firm concluded what most residents already knew, that the village’s low elevation and antiquated drainage system resulted in flooding during rainfall and tide cycles.

In addition, the village does not have a conventional storm water system layout. “Rather than having a system of pipe laid out in predictable patterns,” the report read, “the existing infrastructure is complicated and haphazard, reflecting a system that appeared to have been modified with additions of piping and drainage structures over time.”

Mayor Michael McGinty said that there are numerous projects either finished or in the works to help fortify neighborhoods on and near Beach Way, Masone Beach, Jackson Place, Island Park Way, Nassau Lane, Little Beach, Suffolk Road and others areas. The construction targeted specifically at drainage took place on Suffolk, Hastings, Deal, Radcliffe, Warwick and Quebec roads, which over the summer were fitted with larger-diameter drainpipes.

“When you see all the construction around, so much of it is FEMA funds that have finally arrived,” McGinty told the Herald. “There was no assistance for a long period of time, and then the village of Island Park won a grant for $33 million, which was the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.”

With a range of elevation from 4 to 10 feet, McGinty said, “The most important project here overall is a mitigation of flooding — flooding that occurs, or did occur, at moon tides once a month — and severe nor’easters we face.” Thanks to the replacement of tidal flex valves over the summer, he added, he’s already seen some improvements. “We just went through five days of rain with a minimum of street flooding,” the mayor said, “so that tells me the tide flex valves are working.”