by Cris Italia
Twelve years since it's opening, Sands Shopping Mall along Long Beach Road has become a detriment for Kings Highway residents. The mall sits virtually in their backyard. At one time, a creek ran parallel to the now troubled street, which allowed for water from rain storms to drain out. The creation of the shopping mall changed that.
With the creek paved over, rain water now sometimes takes days before evaporating and restoring Kings Highway back to normal.
"It's ridiculous. The floods come up waist-high, sometimes, said Kings Highway resident George Schaefer. The mall was built over the creek, and now every time it rains we have a pool of water surrounding our homes.
The massive floods have sometimes been so bad that residents have become prisoners in their own homes.
"It prevents us from [having] a normal life," said one resident, who wished to remain anonymous. "On days when we have to go to work, we can't even leave because our cars don't operate."
Making matters worse, both the Town of Hempstead and Nassau County have passed the ball, each claiming the road isn't theirs.
"I don't see that on our list of roads," said a Nassau County official. "I doubt it's our road."
On several occasions, Town of Hempstead spokesperson Matt Deery has stated that the road does belong to the county. Since the road is the county's, Deery said, the Town of Hempstead is restricted from making any repairs.
Schaefer, who was at one time an employee of Nassau County's Public Works Department, had made constant complaints to both Nassau County and the Town of Hempstead.
"They've never listened to us. They know they made a mistake, but they'll never admit to it and instead they choose to ignore us, Schaefer said. He also contacted the Lucas family, who owns and runs the Sands Shopping Center. Again his attempts to come to a resolution were ignored.
With a good downpour we can get over 14 inches of water, said Schaefer, pointing to the water stains on a wall in his home. They took a 62-foot creek and tried replacing it with a six-foot pipe.
Almost all residents on Kings Highway believe this is a fight they will lose. They haven't done anything for 12 years. Even lawyers won't fight this because they think it will be a fight they can't win, Schaefer said.
Damage to homes and cars continue, but with no choice, residents have just had to deal with it. Sometimes I get five feet of water in my cellar. I lost an oil burner, Schaefer said. The floods can sometimes get up as high as a car's bumper, he said, effecting any electronic instruments the car needs to start. I've lost a car because of it, one resident claimed.
Residents claim that several years ago the flood was so high that one woman not only lost all electricity in her home, but rescue workers had to save the elderly woman from the flooded home with a raft.
"She is an elderly woman and couldn't make it through the water so they had to use a raft just to get her to safety," Schaefer said.
Nassau County Legislator Jeff Toback (D, Oceanside) knows of the floods and has spoke to the Department of Public Works several times, he said.
"It's a complicated issue," Toback said. "Mr. Schaefer claims that the building of Sands Shopping Center was built over a canal that diverted all the water from Kings Highway, but unfortunately Public Works doesn't agree with him."
Toback says that Public Works is currently looking into the issue, but when contacted an official claimed the road did not belong to them. The official also stated that more information would be provided, but never returned phone calls.
The Lucas family was also contacted, but never returned calls on the matter.
