Flood prevention gets a multi-million-dollar boost in Rockland County
CLARKSTOWN, Rockland County (WABC) -- Efforts to prevent flooding one Rockland County community took center stage Tuesday.
Republican Congressman Mike Lawler was joined by Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehman, local and state officials, and residents of Jeffrey Court to announce a substantial, multi-million-dollar investment in flood prevention in the Town of Clarkstown.
The community has a long history of dealing with devastating floods.
The houses on Jeffrey Court have been flooding for decades -- but now with increasing frequency. Residents there say they simply pray that it never rains.
"It's been worse lately, if it's over two inches, we all go into panic mode, we know that the sewer might overflow, water starts coming in," said homeowner Alejandra Conde.
Lawler worked with New York's Democratic senators to secure over $2 million for Jeffrey Court -- part of a $58 million package for the congressional district.
"We're trying to bring back federal funds to mitigate the cost to local property taxpayers and to our municipalities and to really invest in these projects," Lawler said.
The money will help pay for construction of a berm -- a barrier several feet high that will contain water from the Hackensack River, preventing it from spilling into back yards and basements.
For homeowners, another benefit of the improvement will be lower costs for flood insurance. It's a long-overdue project that the town supervisor says would have been too costly without federal funds.
"It's a balancing effect of what can you do when and how many roads can you pave as opposed to this, so to be able to get this money from the federal government, it's going to enable the town to do more and roll up our sleeves to be part of it," said Clarkstown Town Supervisor George Hoehmann.
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