State may be last hope for Horton Ave. aid

On the same day Horton Avenue residents learned that the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied a request for $3.8 million in direct aid to their flood-ravaged community, local officials said they hold out hope for similar funding from New York State.

"The program that we have been focusing on is the hazard mitigation grant program," said U.S. Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton), referring to federal funds allocated to states, which then decide where the money is best spent. "The state has already made it clear to me that the first hazard they will mitigate is Horton Avenue."

Though FEMA made its decision to deny the grant two weeks ago, residents of the block in Riverhead weren't informed until Monday. If the state grant is approved, the most likely scenario would be that those residents would be relocated and the area could not be built upon again, Bishop said.

Town officials acknowledged they applied for the FEMA grant but didn't hold out much hope of getting it, expecting relief would come from the state's hazard mitigation grant, said Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller, who applied for both grants.

Hegermiller said the state grant, which has been rewritten to include more information, will be submitted by Friday. If approved, aid for Horton Avenue should be released by the end of May, Bishop said.

The two grants were for $3.8 million and were substantially the same. FEMA and state officials were on Horton Avenue for a visit just last week, Hegermiller said. About a dozen homes were affected by severe flooding in March 2010.

Even Monday, on a sunny, dry day, block residents had FEMA and their damaged homes on their minds.

"I'm so fed up," said Joyce Anderson, 49, who lives in the house that her parents bought. She said the upstairs is habitable but the basement has recurring mold, even after washing it several times.

"Wow, that's not good news," said Roberto Salcedo, 58, of word of the grant denial. Salcedo, who built his house five years ago, said the floodwaters cracked his foundation and that cracks are now showing up in his ceilings and walls. "Someone needs to help us out in some way," he added.

Affected residents have said that their street is a close-knit community and many are trying to clean up enough to stay. However, the plan most likely to be approved, officials said, would be the purchase at pre-flood prices of the homes, which would be demolished.