October Storm Causes $2 Million Worth of Damages to Fire Island’s Davis Park Marina

Brookhaven Town officials say $2 million worth of damages were caused by an Oct. 29 storm that hit Fire Island, resulting in damaged docks, boardwalks, light fixtures, and plumbing and electrical systems. Officials said the damages will be repaired in time for 2018’s Memorial Day weekend. The marina has about 200 boat slips, used by a community of about 350 homeowners in Fire Island’s Davis Park.

Town Councilman Neil Foley said in an interview that the damage from this storm brings to surface a bigger issue concerning Fire Island. A state-approved jetty or sea wall needs to be built west of Davis Park to block future storms from wreaking havoc on the community.

“All the docks have been damaged to a certain level. Some have been destroyed,” Foley told Newsday. “If we don’t find a solution to build a sea wall on the western side of Davis, we’re going to see this kind of damage every couple of years.”

At a recent board meeting, Brookhaven chief of operations Matt Miner highlighted just how damaging the October storm was, explaining, “I was over there after Sandy and Irene, and this damage was worse than those two combined at Davis Park.”

The storm hit Davis Park on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Sandy. Below is marina cam footage of the storm plowing Davis Park Marina from Fire Island and Beyond.

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