Sen. Charles Schumer has unveiled a plan that he believes will unlock emergency federal aid for Long Island beaches that have been battered by back-to-back storms – treat them as one.

Schumer in a news release explained that a threshold of damage needs to be met before emergency funds become available.

According to his plan, “While recent storms do not independently hit the threshold mark, an aggregation or a cumulative measurement of the storms would achieve the threshold reach required to access the federal help.”

The senator says he spoke with the Army Corps general who agreed with the aggregating storms plan.

“The Army Corps has done important and critical work across Long Island. I made sure of that and I applaud it, but these back-to-back battering of storms have created an urgent and emergency level situation across Suffolk that demands more imminent actions to both contain and counter the threats to people, businesses and the local environment,” said Schumer in prepared remarks. “I just got off the phone with Army Corps top brass to lay out a plan to unlock emergency funds for shoreline and beach rehab by aggregating back-to-back storms as one single event. I told the Corps my plan and they agreed with it, and they’ll tell New York Corps officials the same.”

Schumer says recent storms have caused “major dune and berm erosion on the Eastern side of Fire Island, west of Shinnecock Inlet, west of Fire Island Inlet on Jones Beach Island, and Montauk.”

“It’s a mess,” Schumer added. “But even more succinct: this is an emergency."

The Army Corps released the following statement: