Lindenhurst nears end of extensive drainage system study

Lindenhurst village is nearing the end of a study of its drainage system, an analysis that officials anticipate to be the most comprehensive in village history.

With each high tide and heavy rain — including Wednesday night’s — the village encounters extensive flooding. Officials said they hope the study will determine the flaws in their drainage infrastructure as well as potential fixes.

“They’re looking at every single drainage basin, every drainage pipe, every outflow pipe and they will see what works and what doesn’t work,” said Village Clerk-Treasurer Shawn Cullinane. “The whole thing is geared toward building resilience for the village.”

The Town of Babylon in August hired Nelson & Pope Engineers & Surveyors of Melville for the study using $168,500 from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s Office of Storm Recovery. Because a village such as Lindenhurst lacks sufficient staff to handle these types of post-Sandy infrastructure work, money is funneled to the town, which coordinates hiring.

The village has struggled with flooded streets well before superstorm Sandy, residents said, but since the 2012 storm, drains seem to be even worse at getting rid of tidal surges and storm water.

“We want to find out what the solutions are,” Cullinane said. “Do we need to do road raising? Flapper valves? What more can we do?”

With tributaries flowing well to the north of the village, it’s not only those who live near the Great South Bay who are impacted. Cullinane said that one area being looked at is that around Neguntatogue Creek, more than a mile north of the bay, which experienced flooding during Sandy.

“With this study, we think we have great potential to seriously address some of the chronic flooding we’ve had,” Cullinane said. “We have to look at big ideas, big solutions for these problems that have been plaguing us for years.”

With the study nearly done, officials are hoping to make the fixes using the $6.1 million in Community Reconstruction Zone money for which the village is eligible.

Cullinane said the study is 80 percent completed and Nelson & Pope should be able to provide some answers in the spring. “It’s not going to prevent every storm from causing flooding, but we think we can do more in the future,” he said.

Linda Manno, 49, who has lived in Lindenhurst for 18 years, said flooding on Lake Street has always been a problem but has become progressively worse since Sandy. Even hours after high tide has ended, water remains.

“It comes up very quickly now and it seems to linger,” she said. “It’s not consistent so nobody can really predict exactly what will happen.”

As a result, neighbors now coordinate on social media, letting each other know when the water starts to rise so that residents can move their cars or plan to stay elsewhere.

“It becomes a big event,” she said. “We have to make arrangements and work out a backup plan.”

Manno said she and her neighbors are still rebuilding from Sandy and haven’t spoken out much about the drainage issues.

“I think a lot of people when the water comes up, their house is safe so they’re not complaining,” she said. “But it’s time now, something has to be done.”

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.