Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Cuomo tours the Lake Ontario shoreline in Irondequoit to talk about flood preparations

Office of NY Gov. Cuomo

Governor Andrew Cuomo toured a portion of the Lake Ontario shoreline on Saturday morning, stopping by to check on potential flooding and talk about the situation with local and state officials.

He said that the NYS Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services has deployed 70,000 sandbags and two six-inch pumps directly to Monroe County. 

Cuomo said that by the end of Saturday, the state will have deployed nearly 750,000 empty sandbags, nearly 47,000 filled sandbags, 14 sandbaggers, hundreds of pumps and 670 feet of aquadam throughout the eight counties lining the shores of the lake. The New York National Guard will also have 100 members activated by Sunday to support preparedness operations.

The governor says that If the federal government passes a proposed $2 trillion infrastructure program, part of that money should be used to rebuild shorelines to make sure the state is prepared for the increased frequency of this kind of flooding.

Credit Office of NY Gov. Cuomo
Some of the aquadam that has been placed near the shoreline to help control potential flooding.

Local officials and property owners are concerned about the possibility of a repeat of the flooding that occurred along the Lake Ontario shoreline in 2017. Cuomo said the state spent about $100 million dollars to help rebuild infrastructure after that flooding.

And Cuomo also called on the International Joint Commission, which helps regulate the lake level with the Moses-Saunders dam on the St. Lawrence River, to do a better job of managing lake levels so this sort of flooding threat doesn’t become a common occurrence.

The lake's water level remains more than one foot above average and could continue to rise.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.