New Haven’s receiving millions of dollars to repair damage from the great superstorm of 2012 and prepare for superstorms to come in an era of climate change.
State legislators and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy Tuesday announced the awarding of the money — a total of $3.3 million for six New Haven rebuilding and planning projects — as part of an overall $32 million in related federal grants being distributed statewide.
“These grants allow us to repair vulnerable coastal areas while also being smarter about how we use coastal lands,” New Haven state Rep. Roland Lemar stated in a release.
The grants, if approved by the New Haven Board of Alders, include $940,047 to repair 300 feet of bulkhead and sidewalk destroyed along the Mill River by 2012’s Superstorm Sandy, with an eye toward preventing future erosion or other damage; $952,581 to build a seawall to protect 10 homes along a low-lying stretch of Townsend Avenue; $342,000 to finishing planning and building a bulkhead and pedestrian walkway along River Street; $500,000 to study building a new system to prevent flooding by the train station and Church Street South, an area that now becomes a lake during practically any big rainstorm; another $400,000 to plan how to prevent similar flooding on Long Wharf Drive; and $191,250 to weigh three separate ideas for how to prevent flooding by stretches of Wooster Square, Jocelyn Square and Mill River where the city hopes to promote new development.
“Severe weather associated with Sandy damaged our city and our confidence about withstanding future storms with comparable ferocity, so we applied for funding to shore up seawalls, bulkheads, and drainage systems,” Mayor Toni Harp stated in a release issued late Tuesday. “The city received approvals for six out of six projects planned.”