Over the Weekend, a Flood on Carroll Street

I expect the NIMBYs will be complaiing about this

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 9:15 AM

Anyone notice these intense storms are becoming far more common these days. I cant remeber having so many flooding rain events in the past few years - In fact, I only recall a hand full of severe storms over the past few years compared to at least 3 or 4 since May alone. My basement flooded maybe once in the last 5 years. This year it has flooded 3 times already.

Am I alone in noticing this pattern?

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 9:23 AM

Saw similar flooding on 9th Street between Smith and 2nd Ave (close to the Lowes entrance) on Saturday night (around 7:30). It was probably 1.5-2 feet deep and at least one car was stuck and temporarily abandoned. Seemed to affect the ground floors of the warehouses nearby.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 9:48 AM

I just replaced the main sewer line from my building on 5th avenue out to the street and my basement still got flooded!!! I also had a new rubber roof put in 8 months ago and it leaked!
One tenant actually stated that water was coming up from the sink!

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 9:52 AM

9:23
I agree. Heavy down pours that seem to flood the system (and flood cellars) seem to be more common. I was just having the same conversation with my wife. It's either the effect of global weather changes. Or not proper management of the sewer system in parts of this area. Or maybe a combination of both. I have been waiting to finish my cellar so that I can make use of the space. But that may not happen.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 9:57 AM

This City has been, figuratively, and now quite literally, circling the drain.

What the hell is going on? The sewer grates all over Brooklyn are looking pretty clogged up to me.

I think the taxpayers have been getting shafted on a little thing called "routine maintenance."

I really feel for business and home owners...

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 10:06 AM

I think the dumbass residents of brooklyn need to stop dropping litter all over the place

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 10:10 AM

Very common problem around construction sites - mainly because these idiots put everything they can down the (wide) drains.

As for Root Hill - they probably have a couple of nice lawsuits but frankly the service in that place is horrible - I went 2x and I cant bare it anymore - that plus its on the 'wrong side' of 4th means it likely is doomed.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 10:18 AM

I agree with Brooklyn native - I happened to be driving along 4h ave during the downpour and was worried our car would get flooded. The lack of street cleaning was the first thing that came to my mind. The streets of park slope (all uphill from 4th Avenue) have not been cleaned in almost 6 weeks due to the change in parking regulations. More than litter, it's mainly be leaves and twigs (at least on my block). The sewer grate at the end of my block is completely coated over and clogged with mud now.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 10:31 AM

HEY MARTY LOOKS LIKE PARK AVENUE

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 10:55 AM

I have lived in NYC for most of my life and the years we do not have drought, we usually have lots of severe thunderstorms. They tend to roll in around the afternoon rush hour and flood the streets. Especially where the drains are clogged with debris. The veteran New Yorker who lives or runs a shop near a drain has his drain stick on hand to push away the debris during one of our nearly daily summer squalls.
I think there is more media now to make us hysterical about rain storms, but not more rain storms.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 11:44 AM

Looks like Venice.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 11:46 AM

There are two things to blame and they are things that won't change or improve anytime soon: 1) geography and an area's particular vulnerability to flood, and 2) our inadequate, neglected, antiquated sewers.

Something this country's voters never seem to figure out -- you can't cut taxes AND keep infrastructure updated. Just a little thing the Midwest is learning, between the Minneapolis bridge collapse and now all the failure of levees. Not to mention the failure of levees in New Orleans.

Republicans. Penny wise pound foolish. A small portion of the population saves a few bucks, but soon the entire country will have to take on even more debt on top of the huge Iraq war debt, to fix what's been neglected. Oh and how exactly is that patriotic? Since they claim to own the "Patriot" brand, flag lapel pin and all. They should all be tried for treason.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 11:49 AM

When the going gets tough, the rich get going. To Dubai.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 12:01 PM

11:49,
were you born last week?
do you really believe that we do not pay enough taxes in NYC to keep the sewers in good repair?
What percentage of my salary do you really think the politicians need to fix our plumbing?

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 12:07 PM

Yeah seriously 11:49 what are you talking about?
Clearly you want to wedge in your NATIONAL political views here - but sewers are a decidedly local issue and locally we really havent had taxes cut at all and there is no reason based on tax rates that our sewers shouldnt be state-of-the-art.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 12:28 PM

12:07,
Unfortunately, we in NYC pay more in Federal and State taxes than we get back. But, I also blame our elected officials: both Democratic AND Republican. I agree with 11:49, we seriously need to maintain/build/invest in our infrastructure.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 12:32 PM

Repair? Clogs? I thought the city stopped dumping storm runoff directly into the rivers recently. Does anyone know if that is true? It isn't just sewer capacity, they actually backup into your basements now. That has never happened until recently and now it i sahppaning everywhere. It isn't global warming you tree hugging yahoos. Any moderate rain over a short period of time gets the sewers backing up.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 12:44 PM

No more stadiums, no more developer handouts.

FIX THE INFRASTRUCTURE NOW.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 12:47 PM

11.49 AM;

What in the world are you talking about?? The maintenance and upgrade of the sewers are a state and local responsibility. NY'ers pay one of the highest local taxes in the country.

Before you reach for my wallet again, I strongly suggest that you examine how our existing money is spent. Here's one fact you can chew on: NYS spends DOUBLE what California spends on Medicare, even though their population is double ours. Why is this so? Because of the union dollars that pay for the best lobbyists money can buy in Albany. Our tax dollars go to prop up a bloated medical system, rather than taking care of mundane items like sewers. Every politician out there loves to add on health-care goodies at the texpayers' expense. When was the last time you saw a politician jockeying to get on TV demanding an upgrade to the sewers? Not sexy for them. Won't pay for any union junkets. We desperately need a guy like Bloomberg to clean up Albany.

Please spare us your platitudes.

Benson

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 12:59 PM

11:44: Yes, I agree we have more thunderstorms, and especially the past few years. However, what we had on Saturday was truly extraordinary. Two weeks ago I had the drain cleaned out in my backyard, and my gutter was cleaned out this spring. On Saturday, at the heaviest of the downpour, not only could you not see across the street, but my gutter was overwhelmed and gushing water over the roofline like a waterfall. My backyard, which never floods, had four inches of standing water trying to make it down the drain. Once the deluge let up, the water drained properly. With the heavy rains we had yesterday, I had no problems with the gutter or drain. The last time I remember having a downpour of this magnitude was in March 1993 when the cover on my main discharge line in the cellar popped open from the force of the water and created a total mess. This is not meant to excuse the city from its responsibilities or construction cites from dumping trash down the sewers; but this weekend's weather was not the norm by any stretch. I personally think it's climate change; we now seem to be experiencing "Florida" weather up here.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 1:11 PM

Benson for Mayor!!!

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 1:13 PM

So okay, sewers are local. But bridges and levees are Federal. And if I want to bring up the condition of infrastructure all over the country in general not just the local sewers, I will. Try and stop me, Brownstoner nazis.

Property taxes in Brooklyn are the lowest I've ever paid in my entire life anywhere I've lived. I myself would gladly pay more taxes for better schools and better infrastructure. As for income tax, we MAKE more here than we would make elsewhere. Um, kind of worth it. People come to NYC specifically to make more money and they DO. Thus the explanation for the millions of people who live here. In case you were wondering.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 2:22 PM

Bloomberg has accomplished nothing for NYC and would accomplish nothing in Albany.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 2:55 PM

2:22: Check your facts. We might MAKE more here than elsewhere, but we also carry a heavy tax burden for that privilege. This can be researched quite easily. We don't need to increase property taxes on top of what we already pay.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 3:20 PM

Litter and dumping was so common place 20 years ago and the sewers still did not back up into your house. Stop with the global warming shit too.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 3:26 PM

11.49/2.22 PM;

You continue to be evasive and disingenuous.

Yes, property taxes are low in NYC. How about income taxes? Hmmm? How about the 1.75% transfer tax you pay on any mortgage you take out in NY? Add them all up, and you have one of the highest local tax burdens in the country.

If you think that you are getting your money's worth for your local taxes, good for you. I, and millions of others don't. Another example: on Saturday I paid $10 for the privilege of driving over the Verrazano bridge. While driving over it, I could really see my tax dollars at work. The whole thing is rusting away. Where the hell is the $10 toll going to?

Finally, you were completely evasive about my point regarding how NY spends our tax dollars. Please enlighten me as to why NYS' Medicare costs should be more that of California, which has double our population. I won't agree to turn over another cent to the state and local government until you could convince me on that.

Benson

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 3:27 PM

11.49/2.22PM;

Here's what a quick search of Google reveals about our NY tax dollars at work:

http://www.bcnys.org/whatsnew/2006/1012medicaid.htm

Go talk to Dennis Rivera and the other public-service union bosses who have Albany in their hip pocket, before you come trying to pick my pocket again.

Benson

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 4:00 PM

Regardless of where you stand on the politics of the issue, I think it is apparent based on recent weather patterns that this is bound to happen again and with greater frequency.

Best thing to do is prepare as best you can with sewer cleaning, waterproofing, grading, drywells, etc. and hope for the best. Also invest in a good shop vac and plenty of bleach.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 4:40 PM

Everyone has to pay taxes, if we didn't pay our taxes the politicians wouldn't be able to hire prostitutes and the whole economy would suffer.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 7:17 PM

Happiness is a dry cellar.

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 7:18 PM

Keep all of the development going. These sewers cannot handle the capacity of all of the development going on in the area. The sewers are way over capacity.

And all of the morons who think the catch basins are their personal garbage cans--What do you expect? People are just litter pigs-there is no doubt about it. The catch basins would not be so clogged up if people did not litter or throw garbage into them. I looked at my corner catchbasin today and saw a four foot flourescent bulb in it. How the h**l did that get in there??

Posted by: guest at June 30, 2008 8:58 PM

The brooklyn sewers rot in my neighborhood too. Many areas that are lower lying can't handle the heavy rainfalls- debris and clogs exacerbate the problem but are not the root. We ALWAYS HAVE street flooding in navy yard area...and Leticia JAMES doesn't give a crap nor the DEP (which always insists everything is in working order - because the flood water recedes over a few hours) leaving behind broken boilers and moldy basements. She rots and local government doesn't want to rip up streets and put in better sewer systems that can handle the quantity of water from heavy rainfalls unless people in your community come together and make a real stink...

Posted by: guest at July 1, 2008 2:06 AM

Install check valves into both your sewer and storm drains at the point they exit your home. This will prevent the sewer water from backing up into your home. They only open in one direction, OUT and close when water tries to come in.

Posted by: guest at July 1, 2008 8:27 AM

These storms are direct result of GODs wrath. Watch out NY... Change your homorsexural ways or perish! PRAISE GOD.

Posted by: guest at July 1, 2008 3:13 PM