Residents in Middle Village are up to their knees in their own waste any time there’s heavy rain — thanks to aging sewer lines the city hasn’t fixed despite a decade of promises, The Post has learned.
“I pray when I hear storms coming,” said Pat Donovan, 66, one of many local residents affected by the overflowing sewers.
Last Tuesday, a powerful storm pounded the central Queens community, causing the sewers to back up and leaving homeowners with as much as 3 feet of waste in their basements, with “actual turds” floating in the noxious waters, residents and a local official said.
“We had a waterfall just coming out of the toilet in my basement,” said Louisa Gennari, 61, who called dealing with the floods a “horrific” battle.
“Somebody came in to help us at some point and he went home and put his feet in alcohol,” she said. “It was disgusting.”
The problem goes back decades, but came to light on Aug. 8, 2007, when a flash flood left Middle Village residents with tens of thousands of dollars in damage, with many needing help from FEMA.
The city’s Department of Environmental Protection said the existing storm drains can handle only 1.5 inches of rain — and after that storm, it vowed to fix the issue with drains that can handle 1.75 inches.
It slapped a $22 million price tag on the project, but waited nine more years to break ground in May 2016. It was then halted in November 2017 when contaminated soil was discovered.
The city’s Department of Design and Construction said an additional $8 million was needed to finish the job, but those funds were never allocated.
14 comments:
Diblasio's solution is to build more "affordable housing". That will fix the problem.
**Things will turn out a lot different given the neighborhood that this mess took place in. There will be an appropriate response from the city once the media gets all over this story. In the meantime, the residents should call every news outlet out there and make some noise.
CBS 2 NY: ASSIGNMENT DESK: 212-975-5867, desk@cbs2ny.com
WNBC 4: 1866-639-7244
NY1 NEWS: 1212-691-6397
talk about Queens Crap
No money to fix Middle Village but plenty to build neighborhood prisons
They need to service or clean their check valves before this happens. The city's neglect of the sewer system in that area created a situation that makes it no longer handle the water.
When was the last time anybody seen a claw truck cleaning out a curb catch basin in Queens-1984? --Now all the plastic bags, plastic and garbage that doesn't bio-degrade is inside the already narrow 19th century lines where you cant reach it.
Those homes need to have check valves so the water only flows in one direction, I also have a pump to force water it out the line if the system become overloaded or the check valve fails.
While it is costly to do homeowners need to install Check Valves within their property line. They will prevent sewage backing up into the homes sewer line. The cost/benefit out weighs itself when you have sewage in your basement.
The city should have serviced or installed Check Valves along the sewer system to prevent this, you can not count on the city to do anything to benefit the homeowner.
@Anonymous Gino said...
Yes a check valve will work in the basement bathroom but some of those party driveways are very low and flood waters will come into the home through the garage and lower back door.
> The city’s Department of Environmental Protection said the existing storm drains can handle only 1.5 inches of rain — and after that storm, it vowed to fix the issue with drains that can handle 1.75 inches.
That seems like a laughably negligible improvement when we're dealing with 2-4 inches of rain at times.
Before cramming all these new multiple dwellings in a once one family plot think of how you are stressing the sewer systems and electrical grids.
Before cramming all these new multiple dwellings in a once one family plot think of how you are stressing the sewer systems and electrical grids.
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Ask the Queens politicians, ask the Queens weaklies, ask the Queens civics, ask the Queens community boards, ask the Queens boro hall....
or save yourself the effort and ask the Queens Democratic Organization, the root of it all.
A shithole. Forgotten my pols!
"flood waters will come into the home through the garage and lower back door"
Thats not a sewer or storm drain problem, thats a architectural and stupidity problem that dates back to the 60s with the shit they built on Elliot ave and in Bayside where the driveway funnel water into the basements.
One needs to be a moron to buy a home like that without maintaining an active sump pump and basin float switch in the garage or basement. This active setup forces the water out over 30 PSI through a check valve and keeps it out even if the city sewer is overloaded. --It may go in you neighbor's house but "oh well" thats not your fault for somebody else bought a Bayside shitter and is not maintaining a check valve and pump.
I make a lot off $$ of these dopes in Bayside so I guess I shouldn't complain. I love my Corvette and 76 Caddy Coup
@Gino said... "I love my Corvette and 76 Caddy Coup"
You should you earned every $$$. It's your bread and butter :-)
At the current rate with all these idiots who think a home (including a water heater's, sump pumps, heating systems) are plug and play I can buy a Ferrari.
However those are too cramped, 4 inches off the ground wont last on Queens streets, I also only buy American when possible.
I think the water's being tainted to make people stupid.
Just yesterday I get a call "The AC isn't blowing" turns out the homeowner never changed the filters on his system. The filters were caked with over 1 inch of nasty dust, mites, and dead bugs. It was so bad removal was causing a dust cloud. I needed a friggan mask, Clorox, garden hose and mop to clean the evaporator coil and everything properly, remove clean and oil the fan & motor then call a 2nd company to clean & sanitize the ductwork. (all required for safety)
Homeowner = "filters, what filters" "how can it cost $2600 to change two $5 filters"
I would like to know can people so stupid afford to own million dollar homes ?
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