FEMA tours flooded Riverhead neighborhood

The deep brown pool of oily-smelling, sewage-filled water that swallowed a dozen homes on Horton Avenue in Riverhead last week was almost gone Monday, as federal officials came to the site for a firsthand inspection.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, Rep. Timothy Bishop (D-Southampton) and several local officials were there to point out the damage in what Levy described as the worst spot in Suffolk.

It was the first stop in what is expected to be a two- to three-day tour of Long Island by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the first effort by Levy to get $70 million from the federal government.

That's the amount the county spent responding to four major storm events in the last few months. FEMA has already turned down a request by Suffolk for about $2 million in overtime to deal with December's 2-foot snowstorm, and the county is appealing.

About a dozen homes on Horton Avenue are without heat or electricity, and residents will not be permitted to go back to their homes until officials inspect them to see if they are safe to inhabit once the water is completely drained.

Because the flood waters are believed to contain sewage and fuel oil, the houses will also be tested for health-related problems, town officials said.

"We have to address the question of what happens to the people who have been displaced," Levy said.

Bishop, who toured the area on Friday when the water was at its highest, agreed that the homes likely will have to be abandoned. "These houses remain uninhabitable, and the people remain at a loss," he said. "The government must respond, and the federal government must take the lead."

FEMA spokeswoman Barbara Lynch cautioned that this was only the first step of a long process, and that FEMA can take no action at all unless it is requested to do so by New York's governor. The county is collecting data to bolster its claim for aid, which it will ultimately file with the state in the hopes that it is forwarded to FEMA.

Levy said the county's claim would include the erosion damage to beaches and the cost of clearing downed trees from roads.

Lynch said homeowners who suffered damage in the recent storm should first call their insurance companies and get rid of water-soaked rugs or plasterboard where mold could develop as soon as possible. She also urged homeowners who suffered a loss to keep complete records of the financial impact, and to notify their town or county officials so the losses can be added to the county's request for aid.

Suffolk County also will be seeking reimbursement for its costs in dealing with the nor'easter of March 13-15, but that is a separate request, which is not related to the claim for reimbursement by individual homeowners for last week's record rainfall, Lynch said.

Ivory Brown, who had to leave her house on Horton Avenue, said she had lived there for 33 years. "I can't go back in there," she said.

The neighborhood, at the foot of a mile-long hill, has suffered from flooding problems for years, but town officials say it has never been this bad.

"I don't want to do it any more. I have no flood insurance. It just gets worse and worse and worse," Brown said.