QNS. ‘RAW’ DEAL
Sewers overflow despite city’s vows to fix them
It’s the “crappiest” neighborhood in Queens.
Residents in Middle Village are up to their knees in their own waste any time there’s heavy rain — thanks to aging sewer lines the city hasn’t fixed despite a decade of promises, The Post has learned.
“I pray when I hear storms coming,” said Pat Donovan, 66, one of many local residents affected by the overflowing sewers.
Last Tuesday, a powerful storm pounded the central Queens community, causing the sewers to back up and leaving homeowners with as much as three feet of waste in their basements, with “actual turds” floating in the noxious waters, residents and a local official said.
“We had a waterfall just coming out of the toilet in my basement,” said Louisa Gennari, 61, who called dealing with the floods a “horrific” battle.
“Somebody came in to help us at some point and he went home and put his feet in alcohol,” she said. “It was disgusting.”
The problem goes back decades, but came to light on Aug. 8, 2007, when a flash flood left Middle Village residents with tens of thousands of dollars in damage, with many needing help from FEMA.
The city’s Department of Environmental Protection said the existing storm drains can handle only 1.5 inches of rain — and after that storm, it vowed to fix the issue with drains that can handle 1.75 inches.
It slapped a $22 million price tag on the project, but waited nine more years to break ground in May 2016. It was then halted in November 2017 when contaminated soil was discovered.
The city’s Department of Design and Construction said an additional $8 million was needed to finish the job, but those funds were never allocated.
State Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Queens), who has been inundated with complaints, said his office called the DDC after last week’s storm and the agency blamed the problem on the same drainage issue.
“The completion date was like June of 2018, so here we stand in August of 2018 and we’re not even close to finishing. The funding has to come from the city . . . In a multibillion-dollar budget, to find a few million to move a project along shouldn’t be too hard,” Addabbo railed.
“You can’t leave residents in the condition they are in now. It’s unacceptable for someone in their home to have raw sewage like that.”
Jonathan Perrone, 31, said his neighbor’s Cadillac and his daughter's electric car were among the storm’s casualties.
“I just think it’s a disaster what they’re doing. It’s a running joke,” Perrone said. “I mean, that’s the City of New York for you.”