Kevin Gilbride had just turned south on Wainscott Northwest Road from Route 114 one day last month when a dead 75-foot pitch pine, one of thousands killed by the southern pine beetle infestation, fell on the roof of his truck. “There were branches everywhere. The dogs were freaking out. I thought it was a plane or something.”

East Hampton Town is seeking a coastal morphologist to consult with the town to provide “the most effective short and long-term solutions” to help residents of Ditch Plain in Montauk mitigate storm surge inundation.

A New York State Supreme Court judge has denied the East Hampton Town Trustees’ motion seeking clarification of a May 2023 order that both the trustees and the town must pay $389,060 of the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees as defendants in lawsuits brought in 2009 over ownership of a stretch of Napeague ocean beach popularly known as Truck Beach.

East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez has written to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to request an amendment to the Fire Island Inlet to Moriches Inlet, Downtown Montauk project to incorporate damages to the ocean beach caused by storms in December and January.