Community Council Meetings to Address PW & LI Coastal Disasters

The year 2017 has just been designated as the year of the most costly disasters ever. According to the Tristate Regional Plan Association, “more frequent and intense storms will affect large swaths of both coastal and inland areas that will put the most vulnerable at risk." 400,000 Long Island residents and 2 million residents in the Tristate region who live in a zone that is under six feet above sea-level are vulnerable to recurrent flooding and growing storm surges in the coming decades and century.

The Center for Disaster Resilient Solutions--CDRS--has organized two Councils--The Port Washington and The Long Island Coastal Community Councils. We urge you to attend the second meeting of these Councils, which will take place at the Port Washington Public Library on Tuesday, December 4th, from 7:00 - 8:45 pm. A second meeting will take place at the Port Washington Public Library on Monday, January 7th, from 7:00 - 8:45 pm. Please RSVP to CDRS Environmental Division Director, David Jakim, at David.Jakim@gmail.com or 4 Wakefield Ave. Port Washington, NY, 11050.

In a very real way, Superstorm Sandy, with a nine-foot storm surge, introduced Long Island residents to the need for Community-level resilience. Now, residents don’t have to imagine the probable impacts of a warmer climate: this highly populated coastal area has already experienced the short-term high impact extreme events of hurricanes and nor’easters, heat waves, and droughts and understands the implications of these extreme events projected to occur with greater frequency and severity in years ahead. Parts of Port Washington and many other Long Island Coastal communities are especially vulnerable to these impacts.

The upcoming CDRS and Council meetings at the Port Library feature noted speakers and representatives from government, environmental organizations, universities, and community groups. These meetings will establish a diverse profile of community groups and environmental organizations from Port Washington, as well as from the north and south coasts of Long Island. CDRS aims to educate and involve both large and small communities in preparing for coastal flooding, sharing their common goals, aligning with each other to develop communication networks, exchanging ideas for solutions, and establishing collaborative initiatives for mutual aid. Additionally, these initial conferences will address large-scale changes that local communities need to make for resiliency for present and future generations.

CDRS has discovered that many coastal communities like Port Washington are largely unaware that risks from sea-level rise and severe storms are accelerating. Everyone has a stake in planning for a community that can be resilient to these eventualities. Help us design state-of-the art resilience plans to prepare for sea-level rise, more severe storms, coastal flooding, and disasters. Your attendance at these library meetings is crucial to the collective future of Port Washington and of Long Island.

A Note About the Center for Disaster Resiliency Solutions (CDRS)

The Mission of CDRS is to provide Community Resiliency Solutions to enhance disaster recovery, which includes assistance in disaster readiness and preparedness, risk assessment and vulnerability analysis, education and training, disaster mitigation strategies that enhance the betterment of all people, including those with disabilities and those serving as caretakers. The Center for Disaster Resilience Solutions provides expert guidance and services to jurisdictions that helps them improve their capability to minimize the loss of life and property in all disasters, including those of a catastrophic nature. Furthermore, CDRS helps jurisdictions develop solutions that will lead to improved resilience across the board--from individuals to "whole communities" and to regions. CDRS has been a leader in training and education for south shore communities such as Rockville Centre, NY. The uniqueness of the Center for Disaster Resiliency Solutions lies in its ability to engage immediately in the assessment of risks and threats to a jurisdiction and bring forth a broad range of expertise and state-of-the-art data analysis to assist in developing solutions to foreseen disasters.