floodmitigation1County Executive Robert P. Astorino has submitted legislation to the County Board of Legislators to advance two flood mitigation projects, together totaling $1.85 million. The projects employ best practices in stormwater management to enhance each site's capacity for storing and absorbing floodwaters, as well as improving water quality and enhancing the sites' visual appearance.

At the county's Saxon Woods Park, located in parts of Mamaroneck and Harrison, nine acres of floodplain along 1,400 feet of the Mamaroneck River will be restored at a cost of $600,000. The severely eroded riverbank will be stabilized with rock revetment supplemented by vegetation. Along the river, invasive vines will be replaced with hundreds of tree saplings and other vegetation that will stabilize the soil and greatly improve water absorption and filtration. In 2012, the county completed similar improvements to nine acres along 1,600 feet of the river directly to the north.

In Eastchester and Yonkers, south of the Harney Road Bridge in the county's Bronx River Parkway Reservation, 750 feet along both sides of the Bronx River will be stabilized at a cost of $1.25 million. Severe erosion and sedimentation are aggravating flooding conditions and threatening the park pathway. River sediment will be relocated, thereby widening the river channel, and the riverbank will be re-graded. Stone structures within the channel will re-direct water flow to lessen the threat of bank erosion and sedimentation.

"These projects are part of a larger and ongoing effort to address the impacts of flooding in the county," Astorino said. "Last year we completed the rehabilitation of the Oak Street Pump Station in Yonkers that was damaged by Superstorm Sandy. The County Center is now buffered from the impacts of flooding thanks to stormwater management projects along the banks of the Bronx River. There are many complex factors that cause flooding and we will continue to maximize our resources to address them."

In 2011 and 2012, the restoration and stabilization of 1,000 feet of the west bank and 1,200 feet of the east bank of the Bronx River between the Bronx River Parkway and the County Center parking lot was completed. Another Bronx River flood mitigation project completed in 2013 was at Scout Field in Mount Vernon, where stormwater management and in-channel stone diversion structures were constructed and river buffer was restored. Under construction next to Fisher Lane and the Bronx River Parkway in Greenburgh is the restoration of a stormwater and flood management wetland next to the Bronx River. This project will be completed by summer at a cost of $850,000.

The Blind Brook Dam Retrofit project at Bowman Avenue in Rye Brook was completed last year by the City of Rye and is eligible for up to a 50 percent cost match or a maximum $1,083,550 from the county.

Other flood mitigation projects now moving forward include:

  • Mamaroneck: Replacement of the Anita Lane Bridge to improve the flow in the river channel during severe storms; at a cost of $1.5 million.
  • Eastchester and Yonkers: Redirect the river channel away from the supporting wall of the Bronx River Parkway at Garth Woods; at a cost of $2 million.
  • White Plains: Stormwater management practices and embankment stabilization along Fulton Brook in the Bronx River Reservation near the County Center; at a cost of $600,000.

"We will continue to move as quickly as possible to address projects on county property, as we have been," Astorino said. "Where state, federal and other approvals are required, it adds time and complexity to the project, however we continue to make progress."   

The county also is studying and addressing the impacts of flooding via the County Stormwater Advisory Board (SAB). Staffs of the departments of Planning and Public Works and Transportation are working on Stormwater Reconnaissance Plans for Westchester's five major watershed areas. Three plans have been approved by the SAB. Once the plans are approved by the County Board of Legislators, the flood mitigation projects in the plans, which were identified by municipal officials, will be eligible for a 50 percent project cost match from the county.