Starting Over, Again: Brooklands Residents Devastated by Irene

They say lightning never strikes the same place twice. Flooding, unfortunately, can, and often does. 

For the second time in just over four years, the Village of Bronxville suffered major flooding and power outages following the passing of Hurricane Irene last Sunday, and as was also the case back in April of 2007 – when a nor’easter caused considerable water damage and shut down most major highways in the area – the Brooklands Apartments on Palmer Avenue seem to have been hit the hardest.

On Monday, just hours after on the area, flooding local roads, highways, schools and homes, Brooklands residents were once again left to stand helplessly in front of their flooded apartments, and quite literally pick up the pieces.

According to Brooklands Apartments Supervisor Herman Sameisky, 23 first-floor garden apartments were completely destroyed, with flood water levels in each one of them reaching as high as five feet. As of early Monday afternoon, Sameisky and his workers had not been inside the flooded apartments, although the amount of damage expected was significant and measures had already been taken to restore essential services to the rest of the apartment complex.

“We’re accessing everything right now, trying to get everything set up to get things moving along,” Sameisky said. “We have electricians in here, we’re ordering generators, accessing the water situation, the sewage situation.”

Sameisky said he hoped to have cold water back to the complex by Monday, although hot water would have to wait until “Wednesday night at the very best, maybe Thursday” due to a mobile boiler having to be brought in. Sameisky revealed that the complex’s boiler is completely underwater as of Monday afternoon, and that Con Ed had turned off all gas to Brooklands apartments as a safety precaution.

As for when residents living in first-floor apartments will be able to move in again, no timetable has been set at this time. Sameisky said that the units would have to be completely stripped and refurbished due to concerns of mold and bacteria, although he stressed one positive to take away from the weekend’s disaster is that similar work had been done just a few years ago.

“We were through with it such a short time ago, we know the procedures to take,” said Sameisky, who called the damages caused by Hurricane Irene “about the same” as the ones the complex suffered in 2007. “Before we were in the dark, but now we know all the steps we have to take. We had our fingers crossed. We were hoping for the best. At least this time we had more time to prepare. People were able to save more stuff and we were able to get more people out [of the apartments].”

Not surprisingly, Brooklands residents were hard-pressed to see any positives out of this past weekend’s flooding. According to one resident, it took approximately 17 months for apartments to be renovated after the Spring Nor’easter of 2007. Although renovations are not expected to take as long this time around due to the lighter materials used to fix damaged units four years ago, many living in those 23 garden apartments all but destroyed by Irene were left to wonder what it will take to avoid this from happening again.

“This is a bowl here, that’s the problem,” one resident told Patch. “It’s a matter of what to do when people come back to live here. This time everyone knew this was going to happen.”

Sameisky said help from the Red Cross and FEMA “would be great,” although requests for funds have yet to be made.

“We’ll take every little bit of help we can get at this point,” he said.