BUFFALO, NY- In response to the rising water levels on Lake Ontario and upper St. Lawrence River, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District stands ready to use its authority under Public Law 84-99 to supplement local and state efforts during and following flood conditions along Lake Ontario.
Yesterday, the Buffalo District signed a Declaration of Emergency letter, and elevated the Emergency Operations Center from Level IV, Steady State Operations, to Level III, Monitoring Operations, the same level that was used in 2017, when technical assistance and flood control measures were provided to our communities along the Lake Ontario shoreline.
"The District has not received any formal requests for assistance, but we stand ready to supplement local and state flood fight efforts, and looks forward to working with our community partners," said Lt. Col. Jason Toth. "We are committed to doing our part to ensure public safety by providing vital public and military engineering services."
The Buffalo District Regulatory team has been working with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and New York State Department of State (DOS) to reissue an Emergency General Permit (GP), similar to the process in place for the May 2017 high water event. If property owners and municipalities qualify for the DEC GP it will also include the accompanying federal Nationwide permit numbers 3, 13, or 19, and coastal consistency concurrence from DOS. This will speed-up the process for applicants to obtain necessary authorizations through a single process.
Once the permit process is finalized it will be posted to the Buffalo District web page:
https://www.lrb.usace.army.mil/Lake-Ontario-High-Water/
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