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Politics & Government

Village Braces for Flooding from Hurricane Earl

Persistent flooding reaching a high with residents.

With Hurricane Earl projected to hit today, many Mineola residents are worried they will have a repeat of the significant flooding that occurred after a storm on August 22 dropped approximately three to four inches of rain on the village.

"My lights go on and off and my wipers don't work," said one resident who parked his '96 Camry in the Mineola train station parking lot on Aug. 22. "I had to walk home."

Flooding also occurred on Bruce Terrace North to Raff Avenue and the Roslyn Road underpass was closed with an estimated 10 feet of water blocking traffic. The recharge basin at Memorial Park was also "overwhelmed" superintendent of public works Tom Rini said, with water backing up through the system and across Jackson Avenue.

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"The reality is... there's only so much water and capacity a 36-inch pipe can take when there's that much rain coming down," Mayor Jack Martins said during Wednesday's village board meeting. "We've gotten two 50-year storms in two years; it's no longer a 50-year storm."

The Mayor explained that the flooding resulted from a lack of maintenance in the storm retaining wells. The wells that were made to hold rain water were not maintained, he said, resulting in silt buildup and even larger backups in Mineola during heavy rain falls.

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Although approximately three linear yards of silt were removed from the recharge basin, flooding remains a strong possibility with the approach of Hurricane Earl. "The problem is the volume of water having to be transported through the system," Rini said. "The system becomes overwhelmed and then backs up; it's a capacity issue."

Since the drainage pipes and recharge basins are owned by Nassau County, the village believes it should not have to continually pump out water from certain areas, particularly Station Plaza. "It is not the responsibility of the taxpayers of this village to repair a flooding issue that was created by the railroad," Martins said.

The village has been in talks with the LIRR about solutions to the constant flooding around the train station, reportedly worsened due to the construction of the intermodal facility. No County drainage system exists at Station Plaza, and it was theorized that the installation of drywells would be necessary. The village was adamant about not footing the bill for such a solution. "I'm not going to put the additional expense on our taxpayers to have to come up with a solution for a flooding issue that they caused," Martins said.

While Mineola flooding has been getting worse each year, Martins stated that the village would continue to provide support in personnel to drain out any flooded areas until a permanent solution is reached. Village crews were also out Thursday removing leaves from stormwater basins and repair crews are on standby in case of falling tree limbs and downed power lines.

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