Damage in the Wake of Storms: Close inspection of public and private property is well under way across town

In the wake of massive flooding and erosion from October's two punishing northeast storms, government offices and private contractors have found themselves swamped with requests for disaster relief and applications for emergency shore protection and beach nourishment.

Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were to inspect damage to East Hampton's public property, including erosion of public beaches, this week.

At the same time, the town's Department of Natural Resources continues to collect damage assessments from private property owners. The assessments will be forwarded to the Fire Rescue Emergency Services of Suffolk County. As of Sunday, a county report put the cost of storm-related damage at over $43 million, with over 6,300 residents reporting damage. The figure included $6.5 million in agricultural losses, and $14 million in damage to public property. Tallies will be passed on to the State Emergency Management Office, which, in turn, gives the bad news to FEMA.

Once SEMO has collected the information, Gov. George E. Pataki will decide whether or not to declare the state a disaster area and request reimbursement for damages from FEMA.

Last week, the State Department of Environmental Conservation approved the use of 70 to 100-pound sandbags to buttress houses in Southampton that, because of erosion, are precariously close to ocean waves and tide. Aram Terchunian of the First Coastal company of coastal engineers said on Tuesday that he was being flooded with requests for sand to rebuild eroded beaches.

"We're inundated. It's a very emotional time. People are losing their homes. It's an emergency room in a hospital. The guy is dying. You don't ask about his diet," Mr. Terchunian said. He said that houses should be saved first, "whatever it takes," before long-range erosion control and beach building plans can be made.

Sand that was to have been excavated from a lowered Georgica Pond this week will not be trucked west along the beach to First Coastal's Sagaponack clients for at least another week because of the fragile condition of the beaches.

At least one lawsuit has been threatened to add to suits already lodged against agencies accused of having abetted storm damage at Georgica Pond.

Unprecedented rainfall caused the memory - too high, and avoidably high, in the opinion of Harvey Karp of West End Road in East Hampton. Mr. Karp has lived 150 feet from the pond for 36 years. He said the rains that started on Oct. 7 and stopped nearly a week later caused his basement to flood for the first time ever. He said that neighbors who lived closer to the pond could have sustained hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of flood damage.

He faulted the East Hampton Town Trustees for not opening the pond to the sea early enough to have prevented the flooding. "The pond was already at an unusually high level with weather reports predicting substantial rains on a sustained basis. The trustees are charged with the responsibility to make sure it stays at an appropriate level. They did nothing." The pond was let on Oct. 14.

On Oct. 25, the day the second northeast storm hit, Mr. Karp threatened the trustees with a lawsuit, but on Tuesday he said, "I'm not a litigious sort. I'm more anxious that the trustees understand their responsibility, and not act in a cavalier fashion when their inaction results in risk to property and lives."

Larry Penny, East Hampton's director of natural resources, reported that members of the Amagansett East Association, whose homes are on Napeague, had experienced severe flooding when the gorged water table flooded basements and crawl spaces, and even pushed its way through floorboards into living spaces.

Dr. Alan Klopman, speaking for the association, said on Tuesday that many members were second-home owners who were still not aware that their community had turned into a lake, and that a few residents had been forced to abandon their houses. He had already collected damage assessments from 11 homeowners and passed them on to the Department of Natural Resources, which, in turn, sent them to the county.

Serious erosion at Montauk's Ditch Plain Beach will be dealt with in the near future, Larry Penny said on Tuesday. He said the plan, in part, was to remove phragmites from wetlands behind the remaining dunes at Ditch Plain. The area will be turned into a pond. An estimated 5,000 cubic yards of soil and sand from the excavation would be used to fortify the dunes, Mr. Penny said.