Freeport awarded $1.1M grant to build pump station to combat flooding

Freeport is set to receive $1.1 million in federal funding to build a pump station to move water away from a flood-prone neighborhood near the Nautical Mile, officials said Tuesday.

The pump station will be built underground near Sea Breeze Park. Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy said the village's existing flood-mitigation infrastructure there is flawed because bay water comes back through jam-prone pipes, flooding nearby homes.

“We’ve had water 2 to 3 feet right where we’re standing. And literally some of the neighbors over here have fish swimming in their driveways; crabs on the ground,” he said at a news conference on Thursday.

The new station includes a valve that prevents backflow that can be easily accessed if it gets blocked by debris. It also includes pumps that will simultaneously push rainwater around the valve and into the bay, Kennedy explained.

It’s being funded by a more than $1.1 million pre-disaster mitigation grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, officials said. U.S. Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) said she helped secure the funding after Kennedy requested the aid last year.

“We know here, on the South Shore of Long Island, it’s not a question of if — it’s a question of when the next big storm is going to come through and cause this flooding,” Gillen said during the news conference Thursday.

The new station will be the sixth in the Village of Freeport, which used roughly $4 million worth of bond funds to build five other stations in different parts of the community in 2023.

Kennedy said faults in the existing system became clear following Superstorm Sandy in 2012. He said "nuisance flooding” is also more common, which he pinned on “a significant rise” in water levels over the past three decades.

“The water is up 12 to 15 inches from what it was when the docks were built originally 30 years ago,” he told Newsday, adding that “the worst part of this is the emergency vehicles responding.”

Freeport’s assistant chief of police, Donnie Ethier, said his department alone has racked up hundreds- of thousands of dollars in damage expenses in the flood zone.

“I’d say over the last several years we’ve lost multiple police cars — to the tune of over a quarter-million dollars in damage — to nuisance flooding when officers are responding to calls,” he said. “We’ve had to buy some specialized equipment to help with these situations.”

The Freeport Fire Department has also had to replace millions of dollars worth of vehicles that were damaged when responding to calls in flooded areas, the mayor said Thursday.

The department’s executive director, Raymond Maguire, said his agency now has to load equipment into alternative vehicles when responding to flooded areas, which “delays the response.”

“It’s been a big problem,” he said Thursday. “This actually helps us out a lot so that we can bring critical [fire equipment] right to the scene much quicker and effectively to protect our residents.”

Freeport has to sign a contract with FEMA before receiving the funds to begin the project, Gillen said.

Kennedy expects to start construction within the next 30 days and have the pump station completed within the next three months.

“As soon as we have the funds, we’ll start — I guarantee that,” he said.

Pete Guoba, who has lived right across the street from the park for roughly 25 years, said he's dealt with flooding on multiple occasions.

Asked about the new station, Guoba said, “this will be great. This will be the end of that — hopefully.”

Kennedy said he wants to build about 15 additional pump stations throughout the community. He told Newsday that planning for that has begun, and he is currently seeking additional funding.

By Sam Kmack

sam.kmack@newsday.com

Sam Kmack covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California and previously worked as a city watchdog reporter in the Phoenix metro area, as well as an investigative journalist at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.