Seal Trapped By Commercial Dock After New Dune Road Breach

HAMPTON BAYS, NY — A new storm, a new breach on plagued Dune Road — and this time, the flooding led to a seal that ended up trapped by the commercial dock in Hampton Bays.

According to Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, Saturday's inclement weather sparked new issues on storm-socked Dune Road. "There were more problems on Dune Road last night," he said Sunday.

The dune washed out by the commercial dock during Saturday night's high tide at 10 p.m.; a 30-foot wide section opened completely, the supervisor said. Early Sunday morning the highway department pushed the sand from the road back in line with the dune, creating a small berm sufficient to weather the morning's high tide, he said.

"Apparently a harbor seal had crossed through the opening last night and was trapped at the commercial dock when the berm was built, according to harbormaster Chris Fraser," Schneiderman said.

A marine mammal rescue came and rescued the seal, which appeared to be in good health, Schneiderman said.

"The area at the east end of Dune Road remains extremely vulnerable and we are watching the weather and tides very closely," he added. "The town lacks the resources to prevent a breach in this area and we are calling for assistance from county state and federal agencies."

At the moment, Schneiderman said Sunday, the road is open; he visited the site at Saturday night's high tide and again during Sunday morning's high tide and will continue to monitor the situation closely. Suffolk County will be sending equipment early Monday morning to help build things up a bit, he added.

In November, elected officials gathered on Dune Road to assess the ongoing need for help in an area that has seen nearly catastrophic flooding in recent months.

Rep. Lee Zeldin, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer and Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman met on Dune Road for a site visit. Also onhand was William Hillman, chief engineer of the Suffolk County Department of Public Works.

The visit followed multiple recent storms that caused severe damage to the dunes along the ocean side and led to severe flooding and a near breach of the barrier island just west of Shinnecock Inlet where many small businesses and jobs are located, including the second largest commercial dock in New York State, Zeldin said.

Local and state officials are now seeking federal assistance with the ongoing dredging; during the site visit, federal and county officials discussed available options regarding appropriate operation authority, funding and the availability of dredges and equipment, a release from Zeldin's office said.

Zeldin said he and and his office have been in "frequent contact" with the Army Corps regarding the county's reimbursement request for prior and ongoing work on Dune Road and has also been in touch with Weeks Marine, which has two dredges currently at Fire Island Pines, regarding the possibility of moving at least one of its vessels east to assist with the emergency project.

Last year, the Army Corps, operating under an emergency declaration, utilized $12 million in federal funding for an emergency dredge of Moriches Inlet, after storms caused severe shoaling and left the inlet unnavigable, Zeldin said. Next, the Army Corps undertook a three-mile dredge of the Long Island Intracoastal Waterway, he said.

Schneiderman has also reached out for help with the "critical condition" on Dune Road, flooding that he said could soon become a disaster if not addressed.

After four emergency declarations on battered Dune Road near the commercial fishing dock in Hamptons Bays, Schneiderman reached out to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation via a letter requesting rehabilitation assistance.

"I write to advise of a critical condition at the West of Shinnecock Inlet project that imminently threatens life, property and resources of the people of the Town of Southampton, Suffolk County and New York State and to seek additional state and federal assistance to avoid a disaster," Schneiderman said. "Although I understand that the State of New York has already approached the US Army Corps of Engineers for ... assistance and that such assistance is 'in the pipeline', I fear without added impetus that help will come too late."

Storms beginning on Oct. 10 have repeatedly over washed Dune Road and are actively flooding portions of the commercial fish dock, local marinas and restaurants as well as eliminating access to public lands, Schneiderman said.

"To date the Town of Southampton, Suffolk County Department of Public Works and New York State Department of Transportation have been undertaking emergency measures to shore up the dunes and prevent over washes that threatened to breach the barrier island and destroy the commercial fishing dock, private marinas, and restaurants and smother productive wetlands," he wrote.

Over the last several weeks, town, county and state crews have moved more than 5,000 cubic yards of sand to prevent over washing and breaching; together the town and county have spent more than $400,000 in the last three weeks, the supervisor said.

"Unfortunately, these efforts have been unsuccessful in stopping major ocean waves and tides from washing over Dune Road," he wrote. "The locally sourced sand supplies have almost been exhausted and the town and county crews are being forced to scrape sand off the road to push back in the small berm holding back the Atlantic Ocean."

Suffolk County, he added, has advanced a scheduled dredging of a nearby navigation channel for an additional 90,000 cubic yards of sand to try and stabilize the "imminent flooding and erosion catastrophe. Unfortunately, almost all of 20,000 cubic yards of the nearly 45,000 cubic yards placed to date were washed away in two days."

Absent a major beach restoration effort as designed by the US Army Corps of Engineers in the WOSI project, "this area will be the latest breach in the barrier island, threatening lives, destroying natural resources and severing critical infrastructure," the supervisor said.

While there are several ocean-going dredges in the area under federal contract and the necessary Water Quality Certificate for using the WOSI borrow site is also current, there is no regulatory impediment in the way of undertaking the needed remedial efforts, Schneiderman said, adding, "What is needed now is assistance at the highest level of government to prevent a disaster. .. There are no regulatory hurdles to overcome, merely the will to move quickly and avoid a looming disaster."

Also in November after the fourth state of emergency in a month, a breach was stayed and Dune Road was once again open to the public — for the moment.

Schneiderman reported that the dune "was all put back together," with Suffolk County dredging and building sand up in the impacted area of Dune Road near the commercial fishing dock in Hampton Bays.

But the relief is just a stopgap measure, the supervisor said. "It's getting more and more dire. If there's another storm it's going to be very difficult to stop a breach in that area."

After the most recent storm, the Southampton Town Highway Department "really stepped up," Schneiderman said, moving a couple of hundred years of sand into place and later, scooping the sand off the street to help fortify the berm. The crew cleaned up after the high tide as the county continued to pump sand onto the beach and commence with its dredging operation.

"This has been a team effort; everyone is really working well together," Schneiderman said. "But this is beyond the capabilities of the town. We need county, state and federal help here. We're doing the best we can with the resources we have available, but piling up lose sand against a tide is not a long-term solution. We prevented a breach — but we can't keep doing this."

Instead, he said, a federal dredge — the sand is already identified off shore and the operation is permitted, Schneiderman said — is critical, "to pump hundreds of thousands of yards of sand onto that beach. That's the only real answer. We're just biding time. I don't know how much longer we'll be able to do this."

Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming agreed. Surveying Dune Road, she said relieved property owners had come to check on their boats. "The breach has been stayed again but we need help from our federal partners," she said..

In October, a storm sparked major flooding on Dune Road, prompting the first local state of emergency declared.

"The sand barrier is thin and will not withstand a minor storm," the supervisor said. "We need federal help with this from the United States Army Corp of Engineers."