Hochul says infrastructure and drainage systems are partly responsible for Ida’s destruction

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News 12 Staff

02 Sep 2021, 22:37

Updated on: Sep 02, 2021, 10:37 PM

Local authorities believe some of the deaths and destruction caused by Hurricane Ida were the result of infrastructure problems.

Police say 12 New Yorkers died in residential basements and it is possible that they drowned.

A 66-year-old man has died in a Brooklyn apartment and 11 people have died in Queens in the past 24 hours.

News 12 investigative reporter Sabrina Franza examined the buildings to see if there were any long-standing complaints or violations that could have been addressed before the tragedy struck.

None of the six addresses News 12 found had any outstanding complaints, although some had a long history of issues resolved in the past.

A woman who lives in one of the buildings tells News 12 that she suffered from the usual flooding and poor drainage on the street. She thinks this could have been the reason for the intense basement flooding.

The situation here, it’s bad here, it’s the roads. The main roads. It keeps getting blocked. We think it’s a street problem, said the woman.

Governor Kathy Hochul addressed the state, with Mayor Billde Blasio nearby, saying the flooding problems won’t stop unless we can fix our crumbling infrastructure.

“We used to worry about coastal areas, now what is happening on the streets … Drainage systems that need to be improved and all the resilience you can bet. Due to climate change, that’s unfortunately something. who was going to have deal, with great regularity, ”Hochul said.

News 12 has been in contact with many departments, and has tried to contact each owner individually for answers on what went wrong and is still waiting for a response.

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