Queens Neighborhood Flooded With Bad Weather Experiences

[Q85Rosedale]

"For more than a month, residents in Springfield Gardens, Queens have endured flooded streets and houses. NY1's Roger Clark filed the following report.

On Edgewood Avenue in Springfield Gardens, Queens, residents who experienced flash floods on August 22 and twin tornadoes on September 16 are once again coping with flooded streets and basements.

 

"I don't like going down there, because there's still a smell," said resident Denise Bride. "And you can't do anything now to the basement, because you're afraid. Because if I make it comfortable for my family, what's the guarantee that it will not happen again?"

 

"Bring the stuff from downstairs to the upstairs, try to move everything that the storm will kind of wreck, we'll try and move everything from that point to higher ground," said resident Alvin Washington.

 

"I don't know what to do, because that [flooding out] back, there's nothing you can do with that. We have no sewer, nowhere for the water to go," said resident Christine Johnson. "Last time it was five feet high back there and it stayed there until it went down. What was that, 24, 36 hours."

 

Philip Nicklette said he has his fingers crossed and is taking the whole thing in stride.

 

"Nature's going to take its course no matter what it does, like the weather, like anything else," he said. "I'm old, so I can deal with it."

 

Bride said she does not know what she will do if her home sustains more damage.

 

"It came into the house and now it's costing money that I know most of us, especially on this block, don't have," she said.

 

The city Department of Environmental Protection said a new sewer system was built in the area to alleviate flooding around a decade ago. They blamed the August street flooding on debris that covered catch basins, which did not allow the fast moving rain water into the system.

 

As for flooded backyards, DEP officials said homeowners have to handle that issue on their own.

 

Video & Link: http://queens.ny1.com/content/top_stories/126345/queens-neighborhood-flooded-with-bad-weather-experiences