Flood-Soaked Queens Blames Development, Lagging Sewers and Climate Change

For most of New York City, the flash flooding on the morning of Aug. 8 was brief, if breathtaking. But try telling that to Kathleen Conway of Woodside, Queens, whose son-in-law is busy ripping out the mold-grimed walls of her live-in basement before they crumble.

Or Annette Markim of Fresh Meadows, Queens, who has lost 10 pounds from stress trying to catalog ruined family photographs, religious books and her treasured Manolo Blahniks. She describes the smell of her basement as “rotten sewer, rotten, rotten, rotten sewer.”

“I don’t know where to begin,” said Ms. Markim, who estimates her losses at $18,000. “And I don’t know when it’s going to end.”

The extent of this summer’s flooding damage to Queens has emerged gradually, overlooked in the drama of Brooklyn’s tornado. But politicians and homeowners in Queens warn that floods are overtaxing the sewer system. Even members of an assessment team from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that visited Woodside were “astounded by what they saw,” said Barbara Lynch, an agency spokeswoman.

Emily Lloyd, commissioner of the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, said that she expected intense storms to occur more frequently over the coming years, and that her agency was investing in preparations.

More from the NY Times