New York Senator Charles E. Schumer is pushing to secure federal funding to fully repair the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-owned infrastructure in Sodus Bay, including the Sodus Bay Breakwater and the Charles Point steel wall that were damaged in last summer’s Lake Ontario floods.
Specifically, Schumer is calling on the Army Corps to add Sodus Bay repairs to their 2018 Work Plan, adding that these key improvements are needed in order to fix the only barrier protecting all of Sodus Bay from Lake Ontario’s direct damaging wind-driven waves and erosion, and to protect dozens of homes along Charles Point.
“ The devastating flooding that inundated Lake Ontario Communities like Sodus severely damaged the very same protective infrastructure that the Army Corps of Engineers built decades ago to protect Sodus Bay and homes along Charles Point ,” Senator Schumer said.
“The steel wall built by the Army Corps to protect Sodus’ Charles Point cliff from eroding is now broken and ineffective, leaving the cliffside exposed to erosion that is undermining the houses that sit on top. Until the steel wall is restored and repairs are made to the deteriorated sections of Sodus’s east breakwater, the Sodus Bay community will be vulnerable to more damage.”
Currently, the broken steel wall is compromised, allowing Lake Ontario waters to dangerously erode the Charles Point cliff, jeopardizing the land supporting homes on top of the cliff and the protection of the navigation channel.
Additionally, repairs are required to portions of the east breakwater that has deteriorated, allowing lake waters to penetrate into the Sodus Bay harbor and navigation channel.
Schumer said in its release that these pieces of infrastructure are critical to protecting the region’s shoreline and, since they are owned by the Army Corps, it is the Army Corp’s responsibility to repair and maintain them.
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