Islip Town Officials Seek FEMA Grant To Fix Flood-Prone Area

Islip Town officials have applied for a grant from Federal Emergency Management Agency to pay off debts from bailing out Canterbury Drive residents in March 2009.

Rick Gimbl, Islip's director of Emergency Management, said the town is seeking a $395,610 reimbursement through FEMA's Public Assistance Emergency program after spending more than a month pumping water out of residents' basements after heavy spring rains in Mar. 13 to 15, 2009.

"Houses were flooded, basements were flooded, even the street was flooded for over a month," Gimbl said. "Parts of Canterbury Drive were closed to traffic for weeks due to severe flooding."

The director said his crews spent countless hours pumping water out of basements, redirecting it from one basement to another before running it down street to the sumps. The storms cost the Town of Islip approximately $300,000, according to Gimbl.

"We are putting in for a grant through the state, which goes through FEMA. It has to be approved by the state first, and we beat that battle. Now it's in FEMA's hands," he said.

The rest of the FEMA grant money, should it be approved, will be used by the town's Department of Public Works which has on Canterbury Drive and Dexter Court.

Rich Baker, Town of Islip commissioner of Public Works, told Patch earlier this year the residential area of Hauppauge between Hidden Pond Park and the Hamlet Wind Watch Golf Course and Country Club has been problematic for years. The area is highly flood prone, especially when melting winter snow is combined with heavy spring rains.

Islip's plans call for storm drains to be installed to carry water from Canterbury Drive south to Dexter Court. Then lay a storm drain line down Dexter to Terry Road, where the water will be directed to the sump opposite Hidden Pond Park. Baker estimated the cost of the project to be between $50,000 to $60,000.

Currently, Dexter Court is marked up by red and orange paints with red flags marking electrical lines and other utilities while awaiting further work.