FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM SEPTEMBER 9, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 15
Queens offi cials off er assistance to residents impacted by Hurricane Ida
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@schnepsmedia.com
@jenna_bagcal
As Queens residents faced the grim
aft ermath of Hurricane Ida, elected offi -
cials visited constituents’ homes to survey
the destruction and off er assistance.
Reports told of fl ooding that claimed
the lives of innocent victims in Woodside,
Hollis Hills and Flushing, while others
experienced damage to their personal
belongings.
In a building on Grand Central Parkway
near Meadow Lake, Congresswoman
Grace Meng took to Twitter to show the
fl ooding in the residential garage, where
one person lost their life and over 200 cars
were damaged.
In a statement, Meng said that Hurricane
Ida showed the need to invest in “real climate
solutions.”
“Last night, New Yorkers experienced
the devastating toll of climate change. On
behalf of those we lost and all the families
whose safety, homes and communities
were threatened by this storm, we
need to invest in climate-resilient infrastructure
and real climate solutions now,”
Meng said.
While spending the day surveying damage
in Fresh Meadows, Assemblywoman
Nily Rozic showed video footage of a local
whose possessions and furniture were
submerged in several feet of water.
“Everything is gone,” was the resident’s
heartbreaking commentary in the video.
Later, Meng and Rozic teamed up to
show piles of belongings on the sidewalks
of Fresh Meadows, which consisted of
damaged clothes, washing machines and
other household items.
Meanwhile on 183rd Street in Hollis
Hills, Queens Borough President
Donovan Richards joined Mayor Bill de
Blasio, Governor Kathy Hochul and other
offi cials at the site where a mother and son
lost their lives.
Richards also took to social media and
said that “signifi cant infrastructure changes”
were necessary to protect Queens residents.
“We’re on the same page: we need to
make signifi cant infrastructure investments
that will protect Queens neighborhoods
against fl ooding during future
severe storms,” Richards said on Twitter.
“With global warming now a fact a life,
it is imperative that this work be done
now.”
FDNY, NYPD partner to pull fallen man from Queens storm drain
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
man wound up tumbling 30 feet down the
NYPD Emergency Services Unit and
rpozarycki@schnepsmedia.com
drain near the Cross Island Parkway and
FDNY Squad Company 61 arrived on
@robbpoz
Whitestone Expressway in Whitestone at
the scene. Th ough the rival between the
about 8:03 a.m. on Sept. 5. He survived
Bravest and Finest is well-known throughout
Some of the city’s most skilled fi rst
the plunge, but wound up with a leg injury
New York City, they put it aside when
responders teamed up on Sunday, Sept. 5,
upon landing. He couldn’t make it out
it comes to saving someone in need.
to make a smooth, yet complex rescue of a
on his own.
“We work very very well together, the
man who fell down a Queens storm drain.
Th e victim had been stuck there for
NYPD and FDNY,” said FDNY Assistant
It’s still not clear how the 47-year-old
many long moments by the time the
Chief Michael Gala during a press conference
about the rescue on Sunday aft ernoon
in Flushing. “We train together constantly
on a lot of diff erent topics and scenarios.
Th is was very successful.”
Over the next 20 minutes, according to
some of the fi rst responders who participated
in the operation, the NYPD and
FDNY worked to get the injured man out
of the storm drain.
Three first responders played key roles
in the rescue: Firefighter Kris Kabashi
of Squad 61, along with Detectives
Steven Orlando and Kenneth Lagallo.
Kabashi made direct contact with the
victim by going down into the hole to
tend to his injuries and prepare him for
the lift out.
“We basically told him that it was going
to be okay,” Kabashi said. “I think as soon
as he saw us come down, he felt better.”
Aft er Kabashi fi tted the victim’s leg with
a temporary brace, they began the process
of getting him out of the hole. Using a basket
hooked on a line attached to a tower
ladder, fi rst responders gradually brought
the victim up out of the hole to safety.
EMS units rushed the man to NewYork-
Presbyterian Queens hospital in Flushing,
where he’s in stable condition and expected
to make a recovery.
While praising the work of the FDNY
and NYPD offi cers involved in the rescue,
Chief Gala stressed the importance of
New Yorkers using the 911 hotline whenever
a life-threatening emergency strikes.
“If you are in trouble, if a family member
is in trouble, before you attempt any
kind of rescue, call 911,” Gala said. “Our
response time is usually 3-4 minutes. As
a team, there’s nothing we can’t accomplish.”
Hurricane Ida
Courtesy of Meng’s offi ce
Congresswoman Grace Meng surveys trash piles in Fresh Meadows following Hurricane Ida.
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
First responders speak about a daring rescue of a 47-year-old man trapped in a storm drain in Queens on Sept. 5, 2021.
/WWW.QNS.COM
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