Water-front property

While there have been plenty of songs written about wet-weather, residents of Howard Beach and the Hamilton Beach area were not singing in the rain during a record downpour this past weekend.
As a reported 7.93 inches of rain fell on Sunday, August 14, flood waters enveloped homes, cars and streets, causing homeowners to battle water in basements and damage to personal property; a problem local residents have become accustomed to after decades of the same problem.
“I can see killies (small silvery fish) in my front yard,” said Richard Wolfe, a five-year resident of Hamilton Beach, whose wife, Karyn, often rows a rubber boat to their daughter’s school bus stop. “This is a dangerous situation for us and something has to be done about it.”
John Stewart, who has been a resident of Hamilton Beach for 37 years, said that the solution to constant flooding lies in the dredging of the Hawtree and Shellbank Basins that surround the community. The removal of mud and muck from the bottom of the basins would lower the water levels and make them less likely to flood during high tides and strong lunar tides, but State Senator Joesph Addabbo, Jr. does not see it as a likely way out.
“The Army Corps of Engineers has been reluctant to [dredge] the basins. I’m in favor of it, but due to our fiscal situation it has not come to fruition,” said Addabbo, whose district office is down the block from constantly flooded areas. “Flooding around here is infamous. Those residents experience extreme flooding.”
According to Addabbo, a project to improve the bulkheads (retaining sea walls) in Hamilton Beach is expected to get underway in the spring of 2012; a task that he says “can’t come soon enough.”
“The money is there for the project to help alleviate the high water table,” said Addabbo, who referenced a local pedestrian bridge as a resort for residents who become trapped by flood waters in emergency scenarios.
A spokesperson from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which regulates air quality, hazardous waste and critical quality of life issues, said that $242 million has been invested in the sewer system in Southeast Queens and five extra crews were commissioned for sewer maintenance in preparation for the weekend storm. She added that since 2002, $1.93 billion have been spent citywide to upgrade the sewer system.
But for residents of the area, the on-going issue might be the norm, but it is becoming increasingly dangerous.
“There is only one way in and one way out of this area,” said Stewart. “We wouldn’t be able to get out if we had to evacuate.”
The New Hamilton Beach Civic Association will hold their next meeting on Thursday, August 25 at 7 p.m. at Riley’s Yacht Club, 99-62 Russell Street, where discussion regarding recent flooding will take place.