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YONKERS, N.Y. After being left underwater twice in the past five years, an east Yonkers cooperative is taking matters into its own hands.
Fed up with what they called government gridlock, residents at the Brooklands cooperative complex are digging deep into their own pockets to build up a roughly 4-foot flood barrier that has been insufficient in stopping rushing waters from flooding their homes, first in 2007 and again in 2011.
The complex at 1000 Palmer Road is prepared to spend $750,000 to $2 million of its own money on improvements to the state-owned flood barricade along the Sprain Brook Parkway, said Kerry Smith, president of the Brooklands cooperative board.
This is a matter of survival for us, he said. Were in peril every time it rains.
In 2007, Brooklands suffered $4.6 million in damages when a flood sent water pouring into the 135-unit complex. Twenty-six ground level co-op owners were forced from their homes, many being locked out for almost a year.
In 2011 the complex was again flooded, this time by Hurricane Irene. The damage was nearly as severe, Smith said, causing $3.3 million in damages cataloged to date. Both times it took just 15 to 20 minutes for water to pour over the small, concrete flood barricade and into the complex.
Once the water starts coming, its like Niagara Falls, he said.
For months the board has been putting pressure on officials in the state Department of Transportation to make changes to the wall, Smith said, but those calls have largely gone unheeded.
The state built it, the state owns it, and the state is neglecting it, Smith said. So if nobody is going to take care of it, we will.
A spokeswoman for the DOT said officials had deemed the wall high enough to protect from flooding years ago. She said she was not able to comment further on the situation due to a lack of information.
In the meantime, Smith said, a project to improve the wall, which calls for adding 4 feet to the wall's height and extending it by up to 200 feet north and south, is set to go out to bid in the next two weeks.
The goal, he said, is to begin construction as soon as possible and have the wall in place by the spring, when flooding from melted snow and storms can be a threat. While the potential $2 million price tag for the wall is steep, Smith said the co-op is prepared to pay it.
If somebody gets killed, whats the cost of a human life? he asked. Id say this is a pretty low price to pay.
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