4
QUEENS WEEKLY, DECEMBER 22, 2019
Miscommunication, faulty construction led to
slow South Ozone Park fl ooding response: DEP
BY MAX PARROTT
The City Council Committee
on Environmental
Protection held an oversight
hearing last week on
the response to the flooding
in South Ozone Park
that inundated about 80
homes with sewage in the
early hours of Nov. 30.
The hearing, led by
Committee Chair Costa
Constantinides and Councilwoman
Adrienne Adams,
offered testimony
from victims about the
aftereffects of the flooding
and the Department of
Environmental Protection
(DEP) Comissioner Vincent
Sapienza, who clarified
that the incident was
caused by a perfect storm
of miscommunication and
engineering problems.
Sapienza testified that
it took the agency seven
hours and a dozen 311
calls to realize that the
problem was not localized,
but area-wide.
Then, once the agency
tracked down the sewer
that was causing the
blockage to the 150th
Street Bridge overpass,
they could not get to it
because in the 1980s, the
DEP allowed the state to
build a highway over the
sewer that blocked access.
Instead of clearing the
blockage, the agency had
to install a system that
would direct water flow
around the blocked sewer.
Sapienza said that the
agency is currently evaluating
whether to abandon
the sewer entirely in the
future.
In the wake of the incident
— the city’s largest
sewage backup in five
years — residents testified
about the mounting
expenses of reclaiming
their homes.
“Many families have
missed work and missed
school, some are concerned
about black mold
in their homes, and others
don’t know where to
start because they don’t
have the means to begin
repairs,” said Adams.
Though Comptroller
Scott Stringer granted
an emergency procurement
of funds in order to
clean affected residents’
basements of sewage and
replace damaged boilers,
residents said that they
have had to file additional
claims for other resulting
personal expenses.
Leron Harmon testified
that his family is still living
in a hotel because his
house is uninhabitable.
Heat vents from his
basement carried the
smell of sewage through
his entire house forcing
him to throw out his living
room set and two mattresses.
“The smell from the
sewage went through every
single room,” Harmon
said.
Reach reporter Max
Parrott by e-mail at mparrott@
schnepsmedia.com or
by phone at (718) 260-2507.
South Ozone Park residents affected by the area’s Thanksgiving weekend flooding testified
about the City’s response on Dec. 11. Photo: Max Parrott/QNS
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