The West Seneca Town Board heard Monday night from homeowners who have been inundated with ice-jam flooding this winter. The situation was also brought to Governor Cuomo's attention.
While appearing in Buffalo Monday, Cuomo was asked about the latest round of flooding that hit a West Seneca neighborhood hard. Cuomo says there are some areas across the state that continue to flood.
"There are some communities that we are not even going to try to rebuild. We're literally dying out the homeowners," Cuomo told reporters
"Sandy (those impacted by Hurricane Sandy) is the only place that we've done it because the federal government has a program to do it. Local governments, state governments don't have buyout programs. And it's really the first time that we've done anything like this so it's something we're going to explore."
Governor Cuomo wants the state legislature to consider a proposal that would allow the state to buy-out homeowners living in persistently flood prone areas.
On Monday night, the West Seneca Town board voted in favor of a proposal that called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a study on how to deal with flooding long term.
But residents sought a more immediate response. One suggestion called for the use of dynamite to break up ice jams before flooding conditions emerge.