By Ivan Pereira
Thursday, August 18, 2011
The mayor is crediting the millions of dollars that have been invested in sewer infrastructure in southeast Queens for the smaller occurrence of flooding in the borough during Sunday’s torrential downpours.
Even though the National Weather Service reported that 7.6 inches of water fell at John F. Kennedy International Airport, beating the previous all-time record of 6.3 inches, the city Department of Environmental Protection said it did not have many complaints from Queens residents about flooding.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the office’s investments in creating new storm sewers have paid off.
“Since ’02, we have invested nearly $2 billion in sewer system upgrades, including $242 million specifically in southeast Queens, which really has reduced the problem,” he said at a news conference Monday.
Not everyone in the borough, however, was spared the storm’s wrath.
The rain flooded a block of houses in Rosedale, according to an aide to City Councilman James Sanders (D-Laurelton).
About 20 homes were affected, but DEP officials were sent to help residents fill out damage claim forms from the city comptroller’s office, Donovan Richards, Sanders’ chief of staff, said.
Richards went out to inspect the houses and said the flooding was caused by a blockage to the storm sewers.
“Down there they don’t have [a large] amount of catch basins, but the one or two that are there weren’t catching water,” he said.
Springfield Gardens, which was prone to flooding for years until new storm sewers were installed, did not have any water problems, according to Richards. Storm basin blockage caused flooding during a summer rainstorm last year, but the DEP has been cleaning out the leaves and garbage from those spots to alleviate the problem.
Hamilton Beach often becomes inundated with rainwater, according to state Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach). Last weekend’s storm did not excessively flood the area, he said. Although if it had been high tide, which would have raised water levels in the area, the waters would have been much higher.
The flooding in Hamilton Beach has become worse since the city made capital improvements in 2000 and 2001, according to Addabbo.
Several bulkheads, which are walls equipped with valves that allow water to run out of an area, were installed in Old Howard Beach to combat flooding — just across a small inlet of water from Hamilton Beach.
When flood waters were released through the bulkheads, it caused more flooding in Hamilton Beach, Addabbo said.
But nearly $1 million in funds from the state Senate and the City Council will be put toward installing bulkheads in the flood-prone area as early as spring 2012, Addabbo said.
Reporter Joe Anuta contributed to this story.
