Valley Stream, hit by ‘unprecedented’ rain, slowly dries out

It was unlike anything residents have seen in recent memory. Potent rainfall from the remnants of Tropical Storm Ophelia battered Valley Stream on Sept. 29, turning flood-prone roadways into rivers and neighborhood streets into small lakes.

Meteorologists at the National Weather Service cautiously warned of potential flash flooding throughout the day, with an initial estimate of 5 inches of rain. When the rain ended, a record 9 inches had been dumped on the village, at a rate that neared that of a major tropical storm.

The rainfall began as early as 2 a.m. but many residents awoke to morning weather conditions that did not appear to threaten their regular plans. Businesses opened, students headed to school and residents went about their daily routines. But as the rain kept coming, it became devastatingly clear that flash flooding would bring the village to a standstill.

By the afternoon, the banks of Valley Stream’s placid streams, running through its scenic parks, overflowed. Cars that tried to make it through the deluge were stranded, and residents were marooned in their homes with some fearing the lack of a safe escape in an emergency.

They watched as water poured into garages and basements, and salvaged what they could of appliances and valuables in the days of cleanup that followed.

The flood and its aftermath

Resident Alfonso Castillo was driving his son, Chris, home from school when he found his entire street, Cornwell Avenue, flooded.

“I couldn’t even park near my house,” Alfonso said. That’s when the pair spotted their famous Blockbuster lending library box, stocked with a cache of DVDs to share with the community, partly submerged outside their home. A chain that kept the box secured to a utility pole was the only thing keeping it from being swept away.

“My garage was entirely flooded, and water was getting to the basement, which was a real problem, but somehow we identified the Blockbuster as the priority,” Castillo said.

Chris grabbed his brother, A.J., and two cousins, Frankie and Nicholas Castillo, and sprang into action to hoist the kiosk, filled to the brim with about 100 movies and loading sand, out of the water and onto higher ground.

“I think the reason we acted so quickly was because we knew this box meant a lot to the community,” Alfonso said.

T.J. Anand, owner of Diya Indian Cuisine in Valley Stream, watched from inside his restaurant as cars struggled against the torrential rain that engulfed Merrick Road. Waves created by speeding cars slapped against the front entrance, gushing in and soaking the floor.

“We just kept pushing the water out, pushing the water out,” Anand recounted. “We stacked the door with tablecloths to control the water as much as we could. At some point, we just had to let the floodwater drain out.”

There was no business during the day, Anand said, but starting at around 5 p.m., customers strapped into boots, sloshed through the waterlogged street to get food. Anand was thankful that his diligent staff saved most of the food, but noted that other businesses on his block took a beating.

“It’s been a complete nightmare these past few days,” Thomas DiStefano, a co-owner of Valbrook Diner, said on Oct 6.

“That Friday, Merrick Road looked like a river,” DiStefano recalled. “We had, like, two feet of water filling up the basement within the hour, and around four feet in total. We shut down by 2:30 p.m. and didn’t open until the following Wednesday.”

The diner, a fixture on Merrick Road, was still on the mend nearly two weeks after the deluge. DiStefano was forging ahead despite the losses — $15,000 to $20,000 in food, lost work for his employees, and a damaged roof.

Without an immense show of support from the community and the hard work of his staff, DiStefano noted, the diner would have been much worse off.

Is extreme flooding the 'new normal'? 

Valley Stream, with its low-lying geography, has a long history of flooding. Areas near the village’s streams are at high risk for sustaining flood damage. But these commercial and residential buildings fare better than most because of the village’s deliberate efforts to ensure that they remain compliant with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s strict flood-mitigation standards, Mayor Ed Fare said.

“Many residents might not know that there’s a significant portion of Valley Stream that falls within the FEMA ‘Special Flood Hazard Zone,’” Fare said. “Anyone, if interested, can go to FEMA’s Flood Map Center website and type in their address to see if they fall within these zones.”

Residents who do may crunch the numbers to determine the merits of buying separate flood insurance. They may be eligible for lower rates under the federal National Flood Insurance Program.

The risk of future flooding in Valley Stream is real, argued environmental journalist Karl Grossman, echoing lawmakers like Gov. Kathy Hochul in linking extreme weather to climate change.

“Valley Stream is a sitting duck for these extreme weather events,” Grossman said. “We can expand tidal wetlands and marshes to insulate and act as barriers in Valley Stream from future storm surges, but this problem is way bigger than the village.”

Climate Central, a nonprofit climate news organization composed of scientists and science journalists, estimates a 68 percent chance of at least one storm in which water rises to 6 feet or more over flood stage occurring between now and 2050 in Valley Stream — with the risk all but certain by 2080.

Though the village goes to great lengths to fortify and maintain its stormwater management infrastructure, the system is at a disadvantage simply because of its design, Fare explained.

“Our natural streams take stormwater from not only our storm drains, but from many towns and villages north of us, eventually ending up in Jamaica Bay,” he said. “The bucket is full, so to speak.”

The village is assessing the roads near flood-prone areas like Berkley Street to improve their flood resilience by upgrading gutters and drainage. And “large-scale” projects, Fare said, are in the works to clean the village’s waterways.

But given the “unprecedented” severity of last month’s rain, flooding was inevitable. “We do everything within our power to mitigate any flooding and flood damage to the extent possible,” Fare said.

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