By Hank Russell
A study released by the Long Island Regional Planning Council (LIPRC) found that more than 27,000 local businesses are at risk of flooding.
According to the LIPRC’s Island Wide Economic Flood Risk Study, there are 27,238 businesses with a collective annual sales volume of $42,682,523,012 that are at extreme, high or moderate risk of experiencing a flood. Such a climate event would also affect their 206,322 employees. The organization says it is believed to be the first such study of its kind.
Data shows that 1,824 businesses are at extreme risk of flooding, 5,114 businesses are at a high risk and an overwhelming majority (20,300) are at moderate risk.
The dataset in the study displays Risk Areas which help illustrate the geographic distribution of coastal risk. The objective of mapped Risk Areas is to define areas at risk from coastal hazards. Data were collected from sources accurate enough to differentiate geographic areas according to the likelihood of flooding, erosion, waves and storm surge.
The risk areas are similar to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood zones but the difference is that the FEMA Flood zones are used to determine flood insurance and regulate development.
In conjunction with LiRo Geographic Information System (GIS), the LIPRC established a study area encompassing parcels within a quarter-mile buffer from the coastline, spanning 79 local government jurisdictions in Nassau and Suffolk Counties jurisdictions across Nassau and Suffolk Counties including two cities, 13 towns, and 64 villages. These jurisdictions had various zoning categorizations, resulting in nearly 600 unique zoning designations.
The study also broke down the data by county. The LIPRC showed that, in Nassau County, 17,395 businesses employing a total of 131,522 employees and having an annual sales volume of $27,490,011,012 were at risk of flooding. Seventy-two percent of the companies (12,518) were at moderate risk of flooding. Those at high risk made up 21.7% of all businesses in the county (3,783) and 1,094 companies (6.3%) were at extreme risk.
Suffolk County has 9,843 businesses at risk, according to the study. They employ 74,800 workers and have an annual sales volume of $15,192,512,000. Seven hundred (7.4%) of these businesses were at extreme risk, while 1,331 companies (13.5%) were at high risk. The number of businesses at moderate risk was 7,782, making up 79.1% of all businesses in the county.
The 10 most impacted communities on Long Island by annual sales volume, according to the study, were Freeport Village ($3,725,355,000), the Village of Valley Stream ($3,096,993,000), Bay Shore ($2,632,332,000), Oceanside ($2,572.294.000), Wantagh ($2,226,601,000), the Village of Lynbrook ($2,133,446.000), the Village of Lindnehurst ($1,799,646,000), Inwood ($1,573,495,000), the City of Long Beach (($1,079,138,000) and Bellmore ($1,070,499,012).