Reducing flooding in Port Jeff, dam-free Nissequogue River

Studies don’t dry Port Jeff’s streets

A Newsday editorial correctly called for long-term thinking about coastal flooding and resilience [“LI keeps flooding. What’s the plan?,” Opinion, Oct. 4]. In Port Jefferson, that planning has been underway for several years.

The village’s Flood Reduction Study, completed in 2026 and supported by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, provided the most detailed analysis to date of the factors contributing to flooding. It identified science-based infrastructure solutions to significantly reduce future flooding. But planning alone does not build infrastructure.

That is why the Water Resources Development Act of 2026, recently approved by the House of Representatives, is so important. It includes preliminary congressional authorization for up to $50 million in Army Corps of Engineers assistance for Port Jefferson water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure. While authorization is not an appropriation, it creates a potential federal pathway to move our flood-reduction projects toward construction.

Local taxpayers, though, cannot be the only ones to shoulder the cost of projects of this magnitude. We need continued partnership among village county, state and federal governments — and sustained funding that carries communities from planning and engineering through implementation. Planning must be matched by a commitment to fund infrastructure improvements that will make coastal communities more resilient.

— Lauren M. Sheprow, Port Jefferson

The writer is mayor of Port Jefferson.

Dam failure turned out to be a blessing

The recent nor’easter that hit Long Island caused severe damage with extensive flooding and erosion [“Still clearing road debris,” News, Oct. 1].

One place that suffered absolutely no damage? The Nissequogue River as it flows through Blydenburgh County Park. All the excess water from the storm flowed through the river and spilled out into some 100 acres of vegetated floodplain that has developed since the dam failed in August 2024.

A day after the storm ended, there was no erosion or damage at the floodplain or downstream — only shallow pockets of water. The floodplain acted like an empty bucket placed under a leaking kitchen-sink pipe. It easily absorbed all the water.

This is further evidence of the value of keeping the Nissequogue River free-flowing and one of many reasons the Free the Nissequogue Coalition has been advocating for this outcome.

The floodplain’s performance contrasts starkly with the county’s environmentally destructive plan to reconstruct the dam and pond, which would replace the “under-the-sink” bucket with a water-filled receptacle that has little ability to store and slow floodwaters.

— John Turner, Islip

The writer is a senior conservation policy advocate for the Seatuck Environmental Association.