Governor Cuomo says that the lake is at flood level now, and what officials are worried about most is the weather, both the possibility of any more rain, and the winds, which depending on the direction, could cause waves that create more flooding.
The governor is worried about a repeat of the damage we saw in 2017, and he says with increasing frequency of this kind of problem, there needs to be a hard look at what kind of building or rebuilding along the lake front might be done after damage caused by any future shoreline flooding.
“If it does happen, yeah, I think we need to take a beat, we have to take a pause, and work with the local communities and say rather than just spending millions to rebuild and be in the same situation, let’s take a different look,” Cuomo said.
The governor says the state has been proactive by helping place hundreds of thousands of sandbags, temporary dams and pumps, but in the final analysis he says, it is really the weather that is the big question mark.
An international board helps regulate Lake Ontario’s level to some extent with a dam on the St. Lawrence River.
Governor Cuomo says even if that board cannot stop the flooding through regulation he would appreciate more clarity from that agency on what its plans are.
