N.Y. Offers Towns Flood Prevention Money

Nine floods in four years is too much for New York officials, who have pledged $650,000 to help local governments battle future floods.

The program, announced during a Flood Summit in Binghamton last month, includes funding for educational and training components on how to manage watersheds.

Governor Eliot Spitzer proposed the summit, designed to find ways of improving state and local responses to flooding.

Over the last four years, New York has had nine floods that were declared major federal disasters. Nearly $500 million was spent for emergency response and repairs to the public infrastructure on the floods.

“We need a substantial state investment in flood prevention,” said Senator John J. Bonacic.

“There is simply no reason why we should spend millions of dollars on post-flood activity when we can invest monies more wisely in pre-flood mitigation. This funding is a good first step, but we will need a continuous investment in order to provide a permanent solution to prevent flood damage.”

Eligible projects under the program include training public works officials and contractors in stream management, educating elected officials about techniques to protect public documents, identifying local hazards and developing related outreach activities and creating public awareness or education campaigns about locally-identified risks.

“It is important that we act prospectively on the issue of flooding,” Assemblyman Clifford Crouch said. “This will probably involve a change in the way we think and conduct business, but it is necessary to protect lives and property in the future. I am looking forward to the discussion by the local officials and my colleagues to put the ideas on the table to bring the issue of flood protection and mitigation to a new level.”