After the storm: Update

Elected officials, state bureaucrats and news media swarmed Riverhead yesterday, inspecting flooded areas and speaking with local residents, some still displaced from their homes by flooding, about the impacts of this week’s storm.

The full impacts of what happened are still being assessed, according to Supervisor Sean Walter, who spent most of the day yesterday touring the town, taking in what happened.

“It was devastating,” he said. (See photo slideshow and video.)

About 20 emergency evacuations took place as flood waters rose Tuesday, according to police. Some homes remain underwater, their residents yesterday returning by boat to salvage some possessions and assess damages.

“The  damage  to the infrastructure and surrounding homes is unbelievable,” State Senator Ken LaValle said in a press release issued yesterday afternoon. LaValle accompanied the supervisor on his tour.  “I am very concerned for the residents who have been displaced,” LaValle said. “They have lost their homes and automobiles and are now worried about  their  immediate future.  These people need help and should not have to bear the burden of this loss on their own.”

LaValle said he had written to Gov. David Paterson asking for disaster relief.

{sidebar id=17 align=left}The governor on Monday had just written to the president on Monday asking him to declare six New York counties, including Suffolk, a major disaster area as a result of the March 13-15 nor’easter that caused extensive coastal erosion in Riverhead. (See story and video.)

An aide to Congressman Tim Bishop said the governor would have to submit another disaster declaration request to the president to include the impacts of this week’s storm.

“People affected by flooding should first contact their insurance company, then local and county officials,” said Bishop’s aide Oliver Longwell.  The local and county officials make the case to the state emergency management office and the governor, he said. The governor then asks for the federal disaster declaration. The declaration allows federal disaster aid funding for cleanup and repairs.

Meanwhile, portions of some roadways remain flooded and some remain closed. Motorists should use caution traveling in affected areas, said Highway Superintendent Gio Woodson.

Riverhead and Jamesport volunteer firefighters have responded to dozens of calls for assistance pumping out basements and homes, said Woodson, who also serves as chief of the Riverhead Fire Department.