Kayaks on flooded Howard Beach streets spur Ariola’s push for drainage fixes

Residents of Old Howard Beach took to kayaks on flooded blocks near 159th Road over the weekend, and City Council Member Joann Ariola says the scene shows that southern Queens needs a major infrastructure overhaul along its coast.

The weekend’s nor’easter arrived alongside a full moon, and together they drove tides in southern Queens more than three feet higher. At times, water stood more than a foot deep on several local roads.

Ariola wants catch basin and flood upgrades in south Queens

Ariola argued in a statement that the city keeps packing more residents into coastal neighborhoods without doing what is needed to support the people already living there. “After every storm we say the same thing, and somehow it keeps falling on deaf ears,” Ariola said.

Catch basins topped Ariola’s list. Better drainage, the council member said, would keep residents from being trapped in their homes, or worse, during storm season. “We need a major infrastructure overhaul here in Queens,” Ariola said.

Howard Beach residents weigh sandbags and boarded windows

One neighbor drew wide attention on social media with a video of himself paddling through the streets. That resident, David John Perullo, said parts of Old Howard Beach had at least 2 feet of water on Sept. 26 and that the streets get deep enough for a kayak about once a year. Whenever street flooding tops 6 inches, which happens several times a year, water pools in his basement. Serious damage to the house has come only twice, in Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy.

A storm forecast still leaves Perullo anxious, since nobody can tell how much water will arrive. Boarding up windows eats hours of prep work, and with his father away, he had to decide whether to skip a night shift to seal the house. Sandbags help, he said, but a supply can run hundreds of dollars and go to waste if the water never rises high enough.

In Perullo’s view, outer-borough neighborhoods receive less help than affluent parts of Manhattan, and he wants more federal money for flood prevention.