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- Timely Local Flooding News (Sept 24)
Timely Local Flooding News (Sept 24)
Waiting (Not Waiting), Mental Health, Events, Submit Question
Nick Nyhan
September 10, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 14 minutes
A few “bits and bobs” we found on the topic of flooding around NYC. In this newsletter:
Three great articles on various NYC neighborhoods with flooding stories that show what residents / gov’t are doing
Overwhelmed? We know. Some tips to mental health and flooding
Events on flooding info/ help you can attend
Give us your flooding questions (and we will try to get answers)
Someone send this to you? | Please share to help neighbors. |
Flood waters find our difficult spaces: under foundations, between walls, in tiny cracks, through sewer drains and air ventilation grates.
Flood waters also flow into the “murky middle ground” of responsibility: between private building owners and government initiatives, between landlord requirements and renter’s rights, between just helping yourself or also helping your block.
We all want to reduce flooding. But the questions that can cause hesitation are:
What do I need to do..or do I wait for others to do?
How much does it cost? How long will it take?
What areas get actual investment now vs help promised but seems far in the future?
Do I stay or do I go?
Here are three great pieces on NYC areas that experience heavy flooding. And while they cover different neighborhoods and sources of flooding, they all exhibit examples of the questions above.
Summary: They do see some pockets of progress, but it takes a steady pushing effort in between storms. Depending where you live, it can feel really slow - or worse - unfair and like your neighborhood has been left behind. There are many government initiatives trying to help, but just waiting for those to keep flood waters out means it will take longer and you will get wet.
Thank you to Amsterdam News, City Limits, and Feet in 2 Worlds for this great reporting.
Swimming To The Door When Your Head Hits The Ceiling
 Bibiane Chamorro. Photo: Emily Brett | “When I get out of my room, the water was in my knee. In few seconds, the water cover until my waist, and after that, I can't walk. I have to, to swim, and when I get up to the living room, the ceiling touch my head.” |
Feet In 2 Worlds brings out the voices (listen to the podcast) of people living in NYC basement apartments, often the only affordable housing for hundreds of thousands. When floods hit and many were trapped, preventative ideas were put forward yet the situation for many is still the same.
By Emmy Brett
Some excerpts:
”In the middle of the night, Bibiane woke to the sound of her little dog Lily, wading through the water that had started to fill their bedroom.
“Bibiane starts swimming through what was once her living room, her head brushing against the ceiling as she tries to hold her dog Lily above the water.
“Bibiane and Mario spent days in the hospital being treated for all the sewage they swallowed. After that, they lived in a Red Cross hotel for weeks. Bibian says they tried to use FEMA money to get a new apartment, but the only one they could afford turned out to be illegal, so after paying $8,000 of advance rent, they never even moved in. In the end, it was their old landlord that got them out of the hotel and into another home, this time, on the first floor. By the end of Hurricane Ida, 13 people had died, 11 of them in Queens, all of them, basement tenants.
“The Cypress Hills East New York Pilot Program [is] one of the few concrete, city-supported solutions to its basement crisis. It’s a conversion program created in 2019 for basement owners...900 homeowners [applied]…But here in 2024, 900 basements haven’t been converted. 500 basements haven’t either. Not 100. Not even 50. As of March 2024, exactly one home in the East New York pilot program is undergoing construction, and only two are still enrolled in the program at all. Which leaves us with two basements. Out of 900: two.”
 Emily Nunez. Photo: Damaso Reyes | “It’s a double-whammy,” Nuñez said about the effect of high tides and intense rainfall on her street. |
Amsterdam News did a well-researched piece focussed on Emily Nunez, a resident of Rosedale, Queens. But it also touches on other parts of NYC (Rockaways, Staten Island) experiencing similar things.
Some excerpts:
“Emily Nunez is one of those residents who has done everything possible. She’s upgraded her yard with permeable concrete, attended countless community and civic meetings, contacted her local elected officials. She’s lost hope that anything will be done to fix the flooding. After living in Rosedale for six years, Nuñez and her family are ready to move again. “Maybe somewhere in Long Island,” she said. She doesn’t have any other problems with Rosedale: “It’s really just the flooding.”
“Last year more than 160 homes sold in ZIP code 11422, where Nuñez lives, are at high risk of coastal and stormwater flooding. That means Nuñez and her neighbors may end up pouring their money into homes that will inevitably flood.
“Southeast Queens is undergoing a more than $2.5 billion effort by the city to improve infrastructure, including installing miles of sewers, adding catch basins to capture stormwater, and replacing water mains. Some projects, according to the city, have been finished ahead of schedule. Despite the high price tag, city officials acknowledge that residents have waited far too long for upgrades in an area that has historically seen disinvestment.”
NYC Makes “Top 10 List”…For US Coastal Flood Risk
 | Report: “The Oceans Are Rising and We're Not Ready” |
City Limits did a detailed look-ahead/where-are-we-now piece citing a recent study from Union of Concerned Scientists which ranked the severity of coastal flooding-risk for many over 1,000 US locations (NYC made the top 10 list).
Some excerpts:
“The report, which looked at nearly 1,100 assets along the U.S. coastline, ranked New York as the ninth state with the most critical infrastructure at risk of flooding in 2050.
“Local officials have been racing to protect New York City’s 520-mile shoreline from the rising sea. “Since 1900, sea level in our city has risen 12 inches and is projected to continue to increase by as much as 6.25 feet by 2100,” a Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) spokesperson.
“The city has added over 13,000 green infrastructure assets, like rain gardens and storage tanks, that collect water when flooding occurs to keep sewers from overflowing. Starting in 2026, all city-owned infrastructure and public facilities will be required to meet a stringent set of design criteria to better withstand extreme weather.
“At least 10 city-led projects that aim to use floodwalls, land elevation and floodgates to keep water out. But of these 10, the DEP says only three have started construction.
“Meanwhile, federal plans led by the Army Corps of Engineers to barricade the city from coastal storms with over 82 miles of floodwalls, levees and deployable gates are yet to leave the drawing board. And environmentalists claim the plan has major pitfalls.”
2. Who Feels Stronger When Facing Flooding
 | Two groups feel better: 1) Those who “take protective measures which carried over to people’s well-being years later.” 2) Those who have “ social and community ties that help people…As some mothers discovered in Canada after the ice storm, it can even turn a potentially catastrophic event into a positive one.” |
The Washington Post has stepped up its climate coverage, not just with stories about weather and impact, but also how to stay positive.
Some excerpts:
“While building stronger homes or speeding disaster relief money can help, it’s often the strong social connections with other people that offer the best refuge from a storm, says Ellyn Maese, a developmental psychologist who studies the mental health effects of environmental crises.
“Here’s why your friends, family and neighbors may be the key to defending your home and your mental health in a volatile century.”
» Join a Community Event (below), will help you feel better!
3. Local Events
(Slope, Gowanus) Community Discussion on Flooding and Shared Watershed of Park Slope, 4th Ave and Gowanus
Tuesday Oct 1, 6:00-7:30pm (free, in-person)
Location: Brooklyn Public Library, 6th Ave and 9th Street
Co-hosted by The City Sponge, Forth on Fourth Avenue, Gowanus Canal Conservancy, Park Slope Civic Council, and City Council Member
Shahana Hanif.
We will explore why increasing areas of the area are flooding, listen to the experiences of people and experts, and suggest ideas for solutions.
(Online) NHS Flood Insurance Webinar
Wed Sept 25, 6-7:30pm (free, online)
Find your home on FEMA map, and if you need flood insurance
Avoid surprises when you buy or sell (“Right To Know Law” article)
(Rockaways, SI, East Harlem) DEP Town Halls and Flood Preparedness Kit Giveaway
Tues Sept 17, 6-9pm: Rockaways: Beach Channel High School (free)
Thurs Sept 19, 6-9pm: Staten Isl: Susan Wagner High School (free)
Tues Sept 24, 6-9pm: East Harlem: PS 146 Anna Short School (free)
No registration, just show up!
No registration
4. Got A Flooding Question You Want Answered?
When you are trying to wrap your head around flooding, a lot of questions come up. We occasionally get reader questions: from downspouts to basement strategies to city initiatives and DEP policies.
If you have a flooding question you want answered, let us know and we will try to answer it in future newsletters…others might even have similar a question. 😅
To submit your question, click the button below:
We hope you found some of this useful. Please help us spread the word and share The City Sponge with people you know in NYC who face flooding.
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