By Alexander Dworkowitz
During her 31 years living in Queensborough Hill, Margaret Grillo has developed a strategy for fighting flooding on her street.
In times of heavy rain, she and her husband head straight for their driveway and quickly pick up dirt and garbage that collects around their small drain, sometimes braving the weather at 3 in the morning. Despite the effort, sometimes two feet of flood water collects in the driveway, which is set below ground, Grillo said.
“My husband has boots that come up to his knees,” she said. “That's how you have to live around here.”
But recently, Grillo has begun to hope that she will not have to spend so many nights tending to her driveway.
The city Department of Environmental Protection has agreed to construct a catch basin on Grillo's block at the corner of 59th Avenue and 150th Street.
The city OK'd the project after Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) pushed the agency to look into the matter.
“There are people still being flooded and it's 2003, which is kind of unacceptable,” said Phillip Hom, Liu's chief of staff, at a Monday afternoon news conference at the site slated for a new catch basin. Liu had another meeting to attend and was unable to make the event.
The basin was scheduled to be installed this week, Hom said.
The intersection of 59th Avenue and 150th Street is at the bottom of a long hill stretching up to Main Street, about a quarter of a mile away.
In that stretch, there are no catch basins along the slope of the hill, only two at the bottom, Hom said.
Those two catch basins have proved to be insufficient.
“By the time it gets down here, it's coming down with so much force that it overshoots the catch basins,” Hom said.
The water roars down 59th Avenue and cascades north on 150th Street, causing a particularly bad problem for residents who live there, many who have low-lying driveways.
Will the third catch basin at the intersection stop the flooding?
“We don't know,” Hom said.
The DEP, however, is scheduled to begin to study the blocks surrounding the intersection of 59th Avenue and 150th Street in about two weeks, which may result in more catch basins, Hom said.
Dominic Longobucco, who like Grillo lives on 150th Street, said he has seen no relief to the flooding in his 17 years on the block.
“It actually has gotten even worse because they keep on paving the street higher and higher,” he said.
Grillo was thankful that at least some progress was being made.
“Anything will help.”
Reach reporter Alexander Dworkowitz by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300 Ext. 141.
