Community Corner

Douglaston Leaders Say Hurricane Irene Could Leave a Mess in the Community

Neighborhood concerns include damage to boats, crashing trees and flooding.

Douglaston community leaders said a potentially torrential visit from Hurricane Irene this weekend could pose a number of safety and quality of life concerns, including flooding, toppled trees and damaged boats.

The neighborhood sits on Little Neck Bay, where a number of community residents leave their boats during the summer months.

Douglaston’s streets are lined with old swamp maple trees that often come crashing down in high winds and its homes, which are not connected to the city’s sewers, send waste water into septic systems.

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Jaime Sutherland, of the Douglaston Manor Association, said all of these factors are concerns for the neighborhood’s residents as Hurricane Irene heads toward the Eastern Seaboard.

“A lot of the swamp maples are dying,” she said. “So, during storms they come down and that can be devastating to the community. “

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She said the Manor’s 573 members and 100 non-members should be receiving notices to remove their boats from the bay. The association will be on-call throughout the weekend and will assist members with storm-related issues.

Eliott Socci, president of the Douglaston Civic Association, said flooding is a significant concern for the community.

“It’s annoying, especially if it’s in your basement,” he said. “I’ve seen cases where flooding is life threatening. There was one occasion when a car with elderly people in it got stuck and needed help to get out.”

He said rainstorms will knock down small branches in the neighborhood, but high winds can leave trees strewn about Douglaston’s streets.

“It’s the wind that does the most damage,” he said.

The Little Neck Douglaston Ambulance Corps will send out two crews in northeast Queens this weekend, president Louis Calderon said.

“We’ve been put on an alert status, so what we’re doing is that we have crews standing by in the headquarters,” Calderon said. “We’ll be available for emergency calls if a tree falls on a house or to help if there’s a blackout. We're prepared for the worst.”

For more information, contact the ambulance corps at 718-229-0400.


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