As Nor’easter Hits, Flooding Plagues Our Neighborhood

If you’ve been outside today, we’re sure you’ve seen what we’ve seen: water, water and more water.

It’s always bad at Ditmas and Westminster, pictured here, when it rains, but today has seemed particularly bad. Have you noticed more flooding than usual in the neighborhood during this nor’easter? Where have you seen the most flooding? If you’ve gotten photos, you can send them to us (just note the location) and we’ll post them on the blog. You can email us at editor@ditmasparkcorner.com.

The National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory for the entire city until 5pm today, saying we could get wind gusts as high as 50mph, and the city Office of Emergency Management is urging New Yorkers to exercise caution when driving and to allow for additional travel time.

The city OEM is also strongly urging New Yorkers to remain indoors. If you must go out, the OEM says:

• Never touch or go near down power lines, even if you think they are safe.

• When outside, remember floods are deceptive. Try to avoid flooded areas, and don’t attempt to walk across stretches of flood waters.

• Do NOT drive through flooded areas. Parts of the road may already be washed out, and you could become stranded or trapped.

For those of you who have basements that are susceptible to flooding, neighbors give some advice about the problem here. And if you want to report flooding, you can do so by calling 311 or visiting www.nyc.gov/311. (Not that there will be any kind of a fast response to the situation – when we called about Ditmas and Westminster, we were told DEP will be out there “within 24 hours.” Still, registering complaints can help in the future – for example, when it comes to the city deciding where to allocate resources for upgrading infrastructure.)

Stay safe (and as dry as possible), everyone!