FEMA Approves New Flood-proof Design For Northport Dock Electrical System

Upgrades to the Northport Dock electrical system should be completed soon, according to Village Trustee Damon McMullen.

The dock's electrical outlets were destroyed when Hurricane Sandy caused record storm surges, and have since been out of commission. The upgrade began in late May.

In order to get assistance from FEMA in covering the high cost of replacing the boxes, the village had to devise a way to prevent the same situation from occurring in the case of another flood.

McMullen and Village Administrator Gene Guido eventually came up with a system that was approved by FEMA. FEMA said they will reimburse 90 percent of the project which McMullen estimates will cost about $50,000.

"The wiring is going to come up to the box and there's a plug hidden by a PVC pipe," McMullen explained, "so when there's a storm coming in you undo a clamp which exposes the plug and you just unplug the box, unscrew it, and remove the whole box."

The village began running over 2,000 feet of wire underneath the dock last week, which starts at the foot of Main Street and runs underneath the entire parking lot.

The new system is an upgrade from 15 amps to 30 amps. Each box is also operating individually. "It used to be that if one boat overloaded the system, the whole dock would go out. This way, if the fuse blows, it's just that one box."

There will be 18 boxes on the dock with two plugs each.