[nggallery id=”22443″ template=galleryview]

After the heavy rains on Saturday afternoon around three feet of rain collected on a section of Carroll Street, causing thousands of dollars in damages to a business and flooding several basements. The flooding was blamed on malfunctioning catch basins next to two developments that caused rainwater to cross 4th avenue and settle on the western corner of Carroll. The water only pooled for about 15 minutes, but that was enough time to do serious damage. It’s not the first time Carroll between 3rd and 4th has seen a deluge over the past year: The street witnessed a similar event after the tornado last August, when a few feet of water took a couple hours to properly drain. “They said they took care of it, and here we go again,” said Joanne Amitrano, who manages three buildings on Carroll between 3rd and 4th avenues. Amitrano had been in contact with city officials and the DEP after the hurricane flood, and only last week DEP officials told her that the catch basins on the block were in working order—which they were, though the ones across 4th Avenue had evidently filled with construction debris, sending what Amitrano calls “a wave” across the street. The building on the corner of Carroll houses the new coffee shop Root Hill Cafe, and its owners had to hire a crew on Sunday to suck out water from the basement, where all its supplies are stored. Root Hill wasn’t open for business yesterday and its owners say they’re facing tens of thousands of dollars in damages. Small consolation: Sunday’s storms didn’t result in flooding.
Update: Gowanus Lounge has photos of flooding on 9th Street, closer to the canal, and Curbed shows the two waterlogged streets side by side.


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

Leave a Reply

  1. 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

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

1 2 3 4