When It Rains, It Floods for 57th Avenue Homeowners

Looking at pictures from Aug. 1, the day the area experienced , it's easy to assume the residents of 57th Avenue live on a scenic lagoon.

Unfortunately, the lagoon was simply the byproduct of an insufficient drainage system, one that clogs quickly with leaves and allows water to rush headlong into the homes of residents. And not only was the rushing water not especially scenic, it caused thousands of dollars in damages to resident's property.

This isn't the first time residents have watched their lawns, trashcans and even cars disappear under a bed of water – in fact, it happens once every few years. So on Tuesday, the neighbors of 57th Avenue joined State Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside, to implore the city to fix the problem once and for all.

Marvin Tessler, 79, has lived on 57th Avenue for nearly 50 years. He's had his home flooded eight times, costing him somewhere between $150 and $200 thousand. So frequent is the flooding that he even installed a cement wall in his garage to keep the water from seeping down into the basement, where the damage is historically the most severe.

The trouble is that 57th Avenue is the neighborhood's low point, meaning when it rains, water travels down from the surrounding hills, completely bypassing the street's few catch basins, which are grates in the ground meant to drain excess water to the sewers below.

The catch basins, however, have only narrow slats for drainage, meaning they clog easily with fallen leaves. Between the clumps of leaves and sheer quantity of water, runoff tends to flow over the grates entirely, pooling instead in the garages and basements of homeowners.

"This is the valley. This is the bottom," Tessler said of his street. "If you look up, everything’s up hill from here, and this is where it all ends up."

Changing weather patterns mean the rains have been more severe in recent years, increasing the urgency for action from the city, said Sen. Avella. Adding more catch basins, particularly those with open backs to accomodate a greater volume of water, would quickly solve a problem that is only getting worse.

“You don’t have to be an engineer to realize that just having a couple basins right here with that hill, that water rushing down, even in a moderate rain storm, isn’t sufficient," he said.