What can be done about back-bay flooding in NYC?

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - Residents who live in Broad Channel, Queens, know all too well the risks of living by the water. They're dealing with a problem known as back-bay flooding. Back-bay flooding is also causing major issues along the New Jersey coastline, but it often gets overshadowed by oceanfront flooding.

"The back bay is usually the area that is between a barrier island and inland area, like a bay front," explained Lisa Auermuller, an assistant manager at Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research. "We have two high tides and two low tides a day, so in certain areas that are lower elevation, we are seeing daily high tides start to flood areas. Back bay areas, we have not had as much extensive mitigation measures in order to slow down the flooding."

Auermuller said back-bay flooding has received a lot more attention since Superstorm Sandy.

"Army Corps of Engineers has over the past few years has been doing a very extensive back bay flooding study in order to start getting a better handle on what some of the local issues are so that they can actually make a plan to start addressing some of those with federal funding."

Flooding is a major concern in Broad Channel. But residents said that ever since the sidewalks and streets have been raised things have gotten a lot better. But there are no easy solutions. They still saw some flooding last month.

As sea levels continue to rise, back-bay flooding will continue to increase.