State-funded studies to offer blueprint to reduce flood risk

State officials creating bond act category to fund proposed flood risk reduction 

By Zachary Matson

A pair of watershed studies initiated on the Ausable and Boquet rivers this summer will identify flood-prone areas and recommend ways to minimize flood risk.

The recommendations could soon be on a fast track to funding from the state’s $4.2 billion environment bond act. 

The state Department of Environmental Conservation commissioned environmental engineers with New Paltz-based SLR Consulting to carry out the studies, part of the state’s Resilient New York program. Engineers met with watershed groups in the Adirondacks this summer to tour the river systems.

Leaders with the Ausable Freshwater Center (previously the Ausable River Association) and the Boquet River Association said they are looking forward to the findings and recommendations of the studies and the data and models produced in the process.

“We will really be able to zoom in on problem areas,” said Kelley Tucker, executive director of the Ausable Freshwater Center. “Communities are better at getting funding when they have comprehensive plans in place.”

Tom Snow, DEC’s watershed coordinator, said the reports are typically completed within eight to 10 months. On that timeline, the Ausable and Boquet studies could be finished by the spring or early summer.  

“We are very focused to try to do it at a pace so that communities can take these reports and turn them into action,” Snow said. “At the end of the day, we know with a pretty strong level of certainty that mitigation projects will in fact reduce flooding within communities.”

Contracted firms have already completed about 50 flood studies across the state, and officials are still looking to expand the number of flood studies.

SLR recently completed a study of the Salmon River, which flows in Franklin County from the northern Adirondacks to the St. Lawrence River in Canada, 61 miles in total length. About 30% of the Salmon River watershed lies within the Adirondack Park.

That study identified four areas at a high risk of flooding, all outside the park: Fort Covington, Westville, Malone and Bombay. The final report includes recommendations to reduce flood risk by removing dams, replacing bridges, expanding floodplains and pursuing buyouts of flood-prone properties. 

In Malone, for example, a series of obsolete dams exacerbate flooding behind them and should be removed, according to recommendations. The report proposed removing the Whittlesey Dam in downtown Malone.

The studies also account for the risk of growing flood flows due to climate change. Using projections developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, engineers estimated that flows during 100-year and 50-year floods could increase by around 5% by 2050, under a moderate greenhouse gas emissions scenario. Flood flows could increase by over 12% by the end of the century under a more extreme climate change scenario.

“These flood studies are intended to be a blueprint,” said Mark Carabetta, SLR’s manager of climate resilience planning. “There are recommendations that a community can implement right away and some that may be 10 years down the road.”

The specific mitigation strategies proposed in the flood studies may soon be eligible for funding from the environmental bond act, according to DEC officials. Suzanna Randall, DEC’s chief resiliency officer, said the agency was working to develop guidelines for a funding category aimed at bolstering implementation of recommendations in the studies. 

“We are really trying to ramp up Resilient New York,” Randall said. “It’s a matter of triaging where are the greatest needs and let’s address those first.” 

The Ausable and Boquet flood studies were delayed a couple of years so that researchers could wait until the Federal Emergency Management Agency updated its flood models of the watersheds as part of ongoing flood insurance mapping. With those complete, SLR hopes to provide more detailed analysis of the rivers.

Gov. Kathy Hochul in her State of the State outlined a goal of studying flood risk in 40 more watersheds. Snow said DEC was evaluating what rivers to examine next by analyzing data and engaging communities impacted by floods.

Top photo: A truck pushes through a section of Route 9 closed from flooding of the Boquet River, south of Elizabethtown. Explorer file photo