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Bishop, Gillibrand push FEMA for Horton Avenue aid

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has joined Congressman Tim Bishop in penning a letter to the head of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Administration, urging that his agency consider granting money to help Riverhead Town purchase flood-damaged Horton Avenue houses and return the southern portion of the low-lying block to swampland.

Severe flooding last spring left at least a half dozen houses ruined on Horton Avenue, with families having to since move elsewhere.

Realizing there is no way to prevent another such occurrence, Riverhead Town and Suffolk County have submitted a joint grant application to FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Assistance Program. In the meantime, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy is in talks with Long Island Home Builders Care, the charitable branch of the Long Island Builders Institute, to provide at least five affordable homes on county-owned land.

Read the Feb. 25 letter to FEMA administrator W. Craig Fugate:

Horton Avenue letter