Every time it rains, walking through flooded streets in the “El Hoyo” neighborhood becomes complicated for residents of the area.
“I’m leaving now, I’m not staying here today.” This area of Queens, located between Durmont Avenue and 76th Street in Howard Beach, is one of three intersections that flood every time it rains, even lightly, because the neighborhood lacks drainage.
According to area residents, it began in the 1960s, when some streets were raised to facilitate passage between South Conduit Avenue and Linden Boulevard, two streets parallel to the neighborhood.
David, who has lived in the area for more than 35 years, says he is tired of the situation.
“They must put in place the beings that they have promised for more than 60 years.”
He added that it is slowly destroying the neighborhood.
“Oh, there were houses across the street and they were very low, you don’t see them anymore, they knocked down the houses and everything. We have lost many houses in this area and now we just have a lot of vacant land.”
In early 2000, the Department of Environmental Protection planned to incorporate this neighborhood into the city’s sewer system. But they concluded that the entire area needed to be elevated to connect to the drainage system. Something that has not happened yet.
As soon as bad weather is forecast, Jasmine de Jesus, a resident of the area, explained that she prepares in advance to avoid being trapped without supplies if the roads become impassable due to flooding, which is common in this area.
“With the wind, trees and a lot of things fall down here, and it gets so flooded that you can’t get out; you really need a boat to get out.”
Jackson Rodriguez, a Venezuelan immigrant, expressed his fear of facing a storm in a trailer.
“Suddenly it’s like a movement, you know, suddenly it starts like turbulence, I mean it’s like we’re rolling, I imagine.”
Carlos Ruiz, who lives in the neighborhood and works as a delivery man, commented on how difficult it is to do his job in this bad weather.
“Because the truth is that with the rain the number of orders has gone down, there are more orders because people order more, but for one it is more forced, you understand me because one runs the risk of leaving the house to take the food and it arrives intact, there are people who get upset because the food arrives wet.”
These neighbors are still waiting for the Department of Environmental Protection, the city agency in charge of making improvements in this area, to fix this problem.
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