Flooding Toilets Are The New Normal In Park Slope, Locals Say

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN – Anne Berg has lived in her Park Slope brownstone near Eighth Avenue and Prospect Park West for more than 30 years in part because of advice she got from her mom.

“My mother told me: buy at the top of the hill,” Berg said, “because the water goes down.”

But over the last few years, her mother’s wisdom has become outdated.

Now with every intense downpour, Berg’s basement toilet turns her home into a water park. And last night was no different.

“It wasn’t as bad as the foot of water we had a few years ago,” she said, “but it was a nice coating.”

The storm early Tuesday morning dumped rain all over the region, with some parts of the city reporting over two inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service. A brief tornado warning was also issued for Brooklyn and Queens.

In Park Slope, the flooding wasn’t catastrophic, but it was another reminder of the new normal during heavy rain: flooding toilets.

“I've lived here over 30 years. We never had these kinds of problems,” Berg, 60, said.

During her morning walk with her dog in Prospect Park, Berg, who works in public relations, said “everyone was talking about how much water they got last night.”

“The water is coming up the hill,” Berg said, “because it has nowhere else to go.”

Further south and down the hill, on 19th Street and Fifth Avenue, photographer Brit Worgan has lived in a basement duplex for eight years, now with her almost two-year-old baby.

But only recently has sewer water flooded in through the toilets in her basement – where the bedrooms are – during heavy rain.

“We had a foot last year with Ida,” Worgan said, “and inches last night.”

Due to all of the recent flooding, Worgan has had over $30,000 of damaged property, including furniture and pricy photography equipment. Insurers denied her claims, deeming them acts of God.

“Our main concern now is the baby,” Worgan said, “she’s already seen enough floods for her lifetime.”

She had to take the day off of work to clean, which as a freelance worker is a major expense.

Pictures on Facebook show the nearby Grand Army Plaza subway station with pools of water. On other social media sites, people wondered if anyone else had flooding around 4 a.m. early Tuesday morning.

Many, including Berg and Worgan, also noted that the water began gurgling up their toilets around that time.

The City’s Department of Environmental Protection, when asked about plans to fix the persistent flooding, pointed to a recent announcement of stormwater infrastructure initiatives earlier this month, commemorating the first anniversary since Hurricane Ida.

One project in Gowanus is expected to be finished in November, but will mostly benefit the immediate area on Third Avenue, where the work is being done, according to the DEP.

When asked if developments in Gowanus are responsible for adding more stress to the aging system, a frequent claim made by some in Park Slope, a DEP spokesperson responded via email “CLIMATE CHANGE.”

A spokesperson for Council Member Shahanna Hanif said they also heard from some constituents complaining of flooding.

While the spokesperson was unaware of any specific plans to address the flooding toilets of Park Slope, they said that the sewer upgrades are ones that need to be done at a city-wide level.