Chronic Flooding in Northeast Queens

**Brian Lehrer** (0:11)
Brian Lehrer on WNYC. So we just had a health conversation in our weekly Tuesday Health and Climate section of the show. This week, we're doing both. So on to a local climate related story. When people talk about flooding in New York City, they tend to think of the shoreline. But some of the neighborhoods that are hardest hit by heavy rainstorms are actually located in landlocked communities, like some in Queens, where several residential neighborhoods like Hollis and Casino Park, Flushing were essentially built on a swamp. After the July 31st storm brought yet another round of flooding to the area, the city's been scrambling to figure out how to protect these neighborhoods as we enter peak hurricane season. And as many of you know, these issues about flooding and sewage backup are nothing new in Queens. But right now, the city's Department of Environmental Protection is surveying residents in some of the most vulnerable neighborhoods in Queens about whether they'd be interested in buyouts. That's one solution, meaning homeowners could sell their homes to the city and leave the sinking neighborhoods altogether. The buyout plan is just a potential right now.
But after years of dealing with chronic, devastating floods, there seems to be substantial interest from homeowners compared to the past. There are also other, some shorter term, so-called common sense initiatives that are kicking into gear. And so joining us now is Queensborough President Donovan Richards, who recently announced he'd be bolstering signage in the area to warn drivers as well as residents before flooding begins.
Plus he's got plans to make some new infrastructure investments to mitigate the inevitable flooding damage. We will also talk to him about some controversial things that he said recently about city politics in general. But Burr, President Richards, always good to have you on the show. Thanks so much for coming back on WNBC.

**Donovan Richards** (2:07)
Always great to be with you, Brian. Always great to be with you.

**Brian Lehrer** (2:11)
You want to call out the particularly hard hit neighborhoods. I mentioned Hollis and Casino Park, which is sort of in a part of Flushing that leans toward Murray Hill, Orbondale, around there. But it's not just there, right?

**Donovan Richards** (2:28)
Yeah, it's not an easy issue to address. You know, our infrastructure has long been under-invested in. But I'm proud of the work we've done in Southeast Queens, almost $2.7 billion.
And I'm the first Black man to ever chair the Environmental Protection Committee. So when I met with the commissioner back then, I said, show me where you're spending your money.
And we had 40 projects on the books in Southeast Queens. And where that money has been spent, when I wake up in the morning, I'm no longer like, oh, is Rosedale or certain parts of Southeast Queens that are Rockaways, are they being flooded? It's not them. So now we've moved to Regal Park, Flushing, Hollis, which is a very low-lying area. And we just have work to do. And I think buyouts may be a sound solution.

**Brian Lehrer** (3:27)
You know, I grew up not far from Casino Park, and I used to go ice skating in the pod there as a kid. I don't know if it freezes over for much of the winter anymore.

**Donovan Richards** (3:39)
Oh, no, it doesn't. And, you know, that's the impacts of climate change. We're seeing much more weather events.
And no matter how much sewers you put in, right, we can update the sewer system. But the sewer system can't hold this amount of water in these extreme weather events. So we have a lot of work to do. Doesn't mean we don't expand the sewer system. But there are a lot of challenges around.
You know, it's whack-a-mole when I wake up in the morning. I'm like, I don't sleep when we see these weather events come because we don't know where they're going to hit.

**Brian Lehrer** (4:22)
And this has been going on for years. Maybe some of our listeners who either were or weren't in those neighborhoods. Remember, there were multiple drowning deaths in basement apartments after Hurricane Ida in 2021 There was a family of three, a mother and her son, and it didn't start with Ida even, or all the way back to Sandy 2012 It's been pretty bad for decades at that point. Why is that?
Is it just a global warming climate change issue, or is the sewage system in parts of Queens insufficient and always was? Take us to the roots of this.

**Donovan Richards** (5:03)
So even in Hollis, for instance, where we saw the drownings in the basement, the mother and the son, you know, there are infrastructure projects happening there. So there's a substantial amount of dollars being poured into infrastructure in Southeast Queens. But the bottom line is we got to figure out. And, you know, it's been a political point, right? Where we talk about legalizing basements, right? And what incentives are there to make sure that basements are safe.