Long Beach residents navigate through flooded streets

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Joanne “J-Bird” Phillips, a Long Beach resident and community leader, was on her way to work in Elmont when she tried to cross East Park Avenue and was met with several feet of flooding.

Early morning storms caused severe flooding on the barrier island and even caused the Long Beach School District to cancel the first day back to school. Phillips said this was the worst flooding she has seen since Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

“The water was coming up to near the hood of my car,” Phillips said. “It was a nightmare. It was really tough just to get out of Long Beach.”

While trying to navigate out of Long Beach, Phillips said she was just worried that her car would stall out on the road. Though the flooding added 20 minutes to her commute, she was able to make it to work safely. However, Phillips stressed the severity of the flooding.

“I’ve been living in my house for 43 years,” Phillips said. “Including [Hurricane] Gloria and Sandy and this is one of the worst flash floodings I’ve ever seen.”