By Juan Soto
St. Albans has withstood the torrential rains that have fallen on the borough so far this month. It was the first test for the city Department of Environmental Protection to determine if the $1 million storm sewer project recently completed mitigated the all too familiar floods.
It passed.
“While Noah’s flood lasted for 40 days, our flooding has been going on for more than 40 years,” said Heish Phillips-Kong, from Equal, a grassroots organization of several faith-based congregations in Queens. “In the past, my block and yard used to look like a pond during heavy rainfall.”
The storm sewer and catch basin work were completed along 119th Avenue between 192nd and 195th streets. The project included connecting 18 street level catch basins to three blocks of new storm sewers that drain to an already existing storm sewer.
“Chronic flooding can present a persistent threat to residents’ property and peace of mind,” said Emily Lloyd, DEP commissioner. “We are committed to prioritizing our construction work in those areas of the city that do not have a fully built-out sewer system.”
City Councilman Donovan Richards (D-Laurelton) said residents of St. Albans and other southeast Queens neighborhoods “are too familiar with localized flooding and related issues, particularly during inclement whether.”
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz said the new storm sewers and catch basin should improve the quality of life of St. Albans residents.
“The flooding that has plagued St. Albans has been a major annoyance to residents of the neighborhood as well as a significant threat to their personal safety and property,” Katz said.
According to DEP, the post-World War II commercial and residential development of southeast Queens “outpaced the extension of the city’s sewer system, and many neighborhoods in the area are not equipped with catch basins or storm sewers to drain precipitation from the roadways.”
Elected officials and community groups also alerted DEP to additional locations where floods are common when hard rain falls. In some of these places, such as 113th Avenue between 156th and 157th streets, and 11th Avenue from 155th to 158th streets., work is already underway.
In addition to the completion of the project along 119th Avenue, DEP announced that it is currently in the final stages of the $175 million project in Springfield Gardens. DEP expects to complete the work of 9 miles of storm sewers and another 8 miles of sanitary sewers at that spot. And in 2016, the municipal agency said it will finish the work to bring high-level storm sewers to Laurelton.
Lloyd’s agency also planned for a $5 million project to install additional sewer lines under 183rd Street and Jamaica Avenue.
Reach reporter Juan Soto by e-mail at jsoto@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4564.
