Massapequa Park Addresses Recent Flood Issues Plaguing Residents

Massapequa Park, hit especially hard by harsh weather as of late, has been besieged by flooding problems, both in the streets and, unfortunately, the basements of its residents.

In an attempt to curb the issue before it causes yet more headaches for locals, mayor James Altadonna recently held an open house in the Village Hall to give residents information and to help plot a course of action.

"A few months ago, we had about ten inches of rain within a two-hour period," Altadonna said. "The streets flooded, their basements flooded. During the hurricane, we made some changes to the drainage systems and cleaned out some drains, and lo and behold, there was no flooding in the streets, but a number of basements still flooded. So, this prompted us to bring in some companies that the affected residents to come in and talk to about alternatives to a flooded basement and how to avoid that."

Altadonna said that money may be available from the Nassau County Emergency Management Agency to assist residents with future flood costs.

"We have a couple of people doing research, and they have found that there may possibly be a grant," he said. "So, we're going to try and see if t we can be the lead agency to try and get that grant in order to fund the French Drains that are needed for residents."

Mark McAlpin was representing ACM Basement Waterproofing at the Village Hall that evening, and explained exactly what a French Drain is.

"A French Drain will handle water no matter where it's coming from," he said. "It's mainly designed to pump the water table before the water gets up to the concrete floor. It's installed correctly and it's got the right amount of pumps, these things work...it's foolproof. The pumps can pump about 2,000 gallons an hour."

However, such workhorse-like quality doesn't come cheap.

"The average house on Long Island is a Cape," McAlpin said. "It might be $6-7,000 to do install a French Pump in a Cape. But that's just a general idea of the price."

Scott Liebegott was one of many Massapequa Park residents who attended the open house. His Philadelphia Avenue home took significant flooding damage from a heavy downpour about a week before Tropical Story Irene hit the area.

"We suffered a lot of damage...we had about a foot of water in the basement," Liebegott said. "The entire tile floor buckled up. All my furniture, carpets, everything was destroyed."

Liebegott's area was one that was hit especially hard by flooding this year, and he wants to know why it happened.

"I'm trying to find out the answers," he said. "I've never had a flood before in ten years, and all of a sudden, on that day, we got water. But also, on my block, we got three feet of water outside in the street, and a few cars were destroyed...some people came out and their cars were under water."

"I'm here to see what we can do about making sure this doesn't happen again," Liebegott added. "But I also want to find out about the possible grant money I keep hearing about that will help to pay for some drains."