Wantagh and Seaford – building for resilient communities

How do you build stronger, more resilient communities to withstand changing weather patterns?

Residents of Wantagh and Seaford grappled with that question at the second public meeting of the New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program [NYRCRP] held at Wantagh High School on Monday, November 18.

The NYRCRP was created by New York state in June to help rebuild and revitalize infrastructure to withstand future coastal storms. The Wantagh/Seaford communities have been given $11 million for rebuilding and are also eligible for more than $500 million in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds through federal supplemental appropriations.

“What we have now is a snapshot of the community, a conceptual plan that looks at the community’s background, its assets, needs and opportunities [for resiliency],” explained David Ashton, a state planner who is working with the Wantagh/Seaford communities on its New York Rising Community Reconstruction Program plan.

The Wantagh Seaford community is 6.4 miles with a population density of 5,388 people per square mile, according to the 2010 U.S. census. During and after superstorm Sandy, major flooding occurred in Mandalay, Seaford Harbor and Seaman’s Neck. Many businesses in the more southerly parts of town and along Merrick Road were damaged. Seaford businesses such as Stillwaters Restaurant, the Seaford Harbor Deli, G & B Laundromat and Catfish Max’s are still shuttered. There were approximately 10,000 electric outages in these communities.

Additionally, a map of the community displayed at the November 17 meeting indicates that 10,000 people live south of Merrick Road in Wantagh and

Seaford. There are 2,400 residences in this area that are at extreme risk of frequent inundation, vulnerable to erosion in the next 40 years or to be inundated in the future due to sea level rise. This includes FEMA V flood zones, areas subject to shallow coastal flooding per NOAA NWS’s advisory threshold, areas prone to erosion or natural features suspectible to erosion.

The conceptual plan was created by committee members after it received feedback from residents at the first community meeting on October 17.