Hamptons still unprotected amid another storm season

$750M plan to buy out homes and rebuild dunes won't start until September

Larry Cantwell and Sandy in the Hamptons
Larry Cantwell and Sandy in the Hamptons

The Hamptons and a stretch of the South Shore on Long Island lack storm protections nearly two years after Hurricane Sandy.

The state and federal government have yet to review a $750 million Army Corps of Engineers project – known as the Fire Island to Montauk Point Reformulation Study – that would reconstruct dunes and salt marshes. The plan would also allow for houses to be bought out from Montauk to Fire Island. Work is slated to start in September.

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The project was technically authorized by Congress 54 years ago, and was finally funded as part of a Sandy relief program last year.

“Areas that were vulnerable two years ago continue to be vulnerable today,” Larry Cantwell, East Hampton supervisor told Bloomberg News. “It’s painfully slow, and as a supervisor, you fear the worst-case scenario: that while the paint is drying, we’re at risk to a catastrophic event.” [Bloomberg News]Mark Maurer