By Mike Schnitzel
This week, Cavus was outside watching as a work crew made repairs to his heavily damaged Franklin Street home. A crack running from the roof to the left side of the entrance to the house was clearly visible, and Cavus's bulkhead had partially collapsed.
"They say it's uninhabitable," said Cavus, who has been unable to return to the home where he lives with his mother, his wife, Levisa, and his 4-year-old daughter, since the damage occurred. "I've lived here since 1976, and nothing like this has ever happened before."
East Rockaway Building Superintendent Dennis McCabe said that the village's building inspector, Stephen Rusnak, was out surveying rain and flood damage on the side of the canal opposite Cavus's home when he heard snapping and crackling noises. "He called me and said that I better get down there," said McCabe. "After I got there, the two of us were standing around, and two poles snapped and the bulkhead actually shifted."
The same day, Nassau Emergency Management officials came to Cavus's house and declared it uninhabitable. According to McCabe, the house is not the only address in East Rockaway suffering a terrible fallout from the torrential rain that has pelted the whole area lately. Across the canal from Franklin Street, the backyards and docks of two homes on Cathay Street collapsed into the narrow canal.
"In the next day or two, we hope to get a boat out in the water to assess the damage," said McCabe.
Meanwhile, workers were busily making repairs to Cavus's home and property last Friday. "For the bulkheading, we're driving in helical pilings to replace the existing wooden deadmen that have failed," said Peter Hancock, general manager of Hancock Contracting and Design of Massapequa and Freeport. Hancock also used the pilings to help reinforce the foundation on the side of Cavus's house that faces Thixton Creek.
A helical piling is a hydraulically installed sectional foundation pile that can be used as a load-bearing pile or as a replacement for a conventional deadman in a bulkhead, Hancock explained.
Hancock and his workers completed all the reinforcement work on Cavus's house by the time the remnants of Hurricane Wilma hit on Monday night. Additional repairs will have to be made to bulkheads near the home, and Hancock estimates that final costs for repairs to the house and bulkhead will run at least $100,000.
According to Cavus, his insurance company responded quickly to his requests for assistance, but his calls to the Federal Emergency Management Agency have gone unanswered. "I contacted FEMA [on October 18] and they said that there were a lot of problems on the Northeast coast, but that they would send someone," said Cavus. "I haven't had a return call or anyone from FEMA come to the house since."
According to McCabe, Nassau Emergency Management is gathering damage estimates for the village. "If there is a local disaster declaration, we will see what kind of help we can give to residents," said McCabe, adding that he was unsure if any funds would be left after the Hurricane Katrina disaster on the Gulf Coast. He said that any aid was likely to emanate from the federal level, and then be dispersed to state and local governments.
Complicating the difficult situation is that there has been some confusion as to who is actually responsible for the maintenance of the bulkheads. The Town of Hempstead built them in 1971, after residents passed a 1967 referendum to form a canal district and to allow property owners to build docks, said Town of Hempstead spokeswoman Susie Trenkel.
"The residents paid for the bulkheads through a town tax that was collected to put them in," Trenkel explained. "The town attorney's office is looking into who is responsible [for maintenance of the bulkheads]." She said the town has been in contact with residents, and is working to assist them.
According to McCabe, it is the property owners who are responsible for the maintenance of the bulkheads. "The bulkheads are outside of [the village's] jurisdiction," he said.
Areas of Bay Park, the southernmost section of East Rockaway, are notorious for flash flooding, but residents said the north side of the village had never been affected before the recent relentless rain. Many homes on the higher streets reported serious basement flooding and damage. Those homes were not affected by the overflowing canal, but rather by water seeping through their foundations.
"This is terrible," said a 35-year resident, who declined to be identified. "I lost everything I had in my basement - everything. When the rain first started coming through, I just stared at it. I couldn't believe what was happening."
By Monday, McCabe had determined that Cavus's house was safe enough to return to, and KeySpan restored gas service on Tuesday. "I had called the New York State Service Commission, and they said they couldn't help me get my gas back on any faster than Nov. 4," said Cavus, "but Dennis McCabe made a few calls, and KeySpan was here [on Tuesday] to turn on my gas."
Cavus will be able to return to his home as soon as his electricity is turned back on. "I just have to have my contractor's electrician check the house and then he can sign off on LIPA turning the electricity back on," he said.
Comments about this story? MSchnitzel@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 265.
