Photo Courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
The broken sewer main led to dozens of South Queens homes being flooded with raw sewage.
By Michael V. Cusenza
The collapse of an old pipe installed 32 years ago 40 feet underground along 150th Street near South Conduit Avenue caused an extensive flood of raw sewage that damaged dozens of South Queens homes last month, the City recently admitted.
In a report filed last week with the City comptroller and obtained by the New York Post, the Department of Environmental Protection indicated that it “accepts responsibility” for the calamity that led to the fetid flooding of at least 74 residences.
According to the agency, the “road collapsing due to the subsidence of overburden demonstrates that the 42-inch sewer constructed in 1987 is significantly collapsed, and that any other cause for the November 30th blockage is extremely unlikely.”
The cleanup continued this week. Comptroller Scott Stringer urged impacted homeowners to file a notice of claim with his office within 90 days of the incident and to contact their insurance companies immediately.
The fiasco occurred a couple of days after Thanksgiving. According to the Post, the City “initially pinned the mess on a grease clog in the pipe and even suggested that residents may have caused the problem by dumping grease from Thanksgiving meals down drains.”
“It’s horrible. My heart goes out to them as a homeowner myself and for their families,” Mayor Bill de Blasio told WCBS-AM 880 two days after the flood. “We’re going to work with each and every one of those homeowners to make sure they get back on their feet. But my heart goes out to them. What a horrible end to what is usually a joyous weekend.”
