Mayor Says City Will Pay For Flood

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced this week that the city will pick up the tab for the millions of dollars in property damage suffered by Astoria residents’ in the area’s recent water main break.
“It would appear that DEP probably was responsible,” Bloomberg said. “A sleeve many, many years ago was installed in a way that when we looked at it, it probably wasn’t done in the correct way and so I’ve asked the Comptroller [William Thompson] to expedite settlements with anybody who had damage because of that.”
A spokesperson for Thompson’s office told The Queens Courier that affected citizens have 90 days to file a claim against the city. He also said that although as of Tuesday no claims had been filed, each one that is received by his office will be reviewed expeditiously.
Citing this as a major victory for affected homes and businesses, State Senator George Onorato, who also resides within blocks of the break, said, “This is great news for the dozens of Astoria homeowners whose homes and property were severely damaged or completely destroyed by the water main break. While there isn’t any way to fully repay people who lost irreplaceable personal property in the flood, I commend the mayor for realizing that these residents should not have to pay out-of-pocket for a disaster that occurred through no fault of their own.”
Local legislators had called for a full investigation into calls received by the DEP that night in order to understand why there was the costly delay in stanching the flow of water. Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr., Assemblyman Michael Gianaris and Onorato organized a community forum last week where the majority of questions were aimed at newly-appointed Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Emily Lloyd.
“I think what the administration saw tonight was the frustration that is seething throughout this neighborhood,” said Vallone at the event.
The more than 100 angry citizens who suffered millions of dollars of property damage demanded to know why DEP response time was so slow.
“DEP is not the fire department,” said Ian Michaels, DEP spokesperson, in response to the allegations. “We’re not located in every corner of every borough. In addition, anyone who thinks that two hours is slow to shut down a water main has not dealt with them before. I think two hours is a commendable time.”
With no exact dollar estimate on repairs, the city may end up shelling out millions in order to help residents rebuild.
“My son’s room was in the basement,” said Giuseppe Maffei, an area resident. “We also had a family room, kitchen, bathroom, washer, dryer – it was fully furnished. We lost about $50,000.”
toni@queenscourier.com