Listen to this articleThe Long Island Regional Planning Council has released a study that shows more than 43,000 businesses on the South Shore are at risk in the event of severe flooding.
According to the Long Island Economic Flood Risk Study, conducted by LiRo GIS, the businesses at risk employ nearly 370,000 people and generate annual total sales volume of $56 billion. In addition, the study found that more than 7,000 businesses—employing over 80,000 people and contributing $8.5 billion in annual sales—fall into the high-risk and very high-risk categories.
The study analyzed and quantified potential economic loss for more than 48,000 businesses along the south shore of Nassau and Suffolk counties based on FEMA flood plain maps expanded with further available data and assesses risk in ranges of negligible, low, medium, high and very high risk.
“As we saw with Superstorm Sandy in 2011, the devastation from severe flooding impacts not only residents along the south shore but commercial properties,” John Cameron, LIRPC chair, said in a written statement. “It is vital to quantify the potential economic hit our regional economy could take from the next big storm, and work with all levels of government on developing measures and strategies that can reduce the risk.”
For the study, very high-risk area is defined as the FEMA 100-year Flood Zone; high-risk area in the FEMA 500-year Flood Zone; medium-risk with a quarter-mile buffer from the 100-year zone north to Montauk Highway/Merrick Road; and low-risk between Montauk Highway/Merrick Road and Sunrise Highway.
According to the study, the top 10 Nassau communities where businesses and their annual sales would be most impacted by severe flooding include Freeport ($3 billion in annual sales); Inwood ($2.2 billion); Rockville Centre ($2.2 billion); Oceanside ($2 billion); Wantagh ($1.6 billion); Wantagh ($1.5 billion); Valley Stream ($1.5 billion); Baldwin ($1.3 billion); Bellmore ($1.1 billion); and Merrick ($1 billion).
In Suffolk, the top 10 communities where businesses would be most impacted by severe flooding include Bay Shore ($3.6 billion in annual sales); West Babylon ($3.1 billion); Lindenhurst ($2.5 billion); Hampton Bays ($2.3 billion); Shirley ($2.3 billion); North Lindenhurst ($1.5 billion); West Islip ($1.5 billion); Amityville ($1.4 billion); East Patchogue ($1.2 billion); and Patchogue ($1.2 billion).