For years, people living in Greenburgh have been dealing with flooding caused by the overflow of several brooks throughout the area whenever heavy rains soaked the region.
Over the past 60 years, Troublesome Brook has been a source of stress for the people of Edgemont.
Town Supervisor Paul Feiner’s decision to widen the brook has prevented clogging and saved the community from flooding during a recent downpour.
Next door neighbors Robert DiLorenzo and Steve Zhou are pleased with the work that has been done. However, they think there is still room for improvement.
“We're very hopeful, but we definitely want more follow up,” said Zhou.
In addition , crews have already begun work on the the Manhattan Brook along the Crossroads Shopping Plaza in Greenburgh, as well as a tributary by the County Center in White Plains that leads to the Bronx River.
The crews have been dredging, clearing, deepening and widening the waterways. "Ten years from now, 20 years from now Greenburgh will be in a much better place because we're addressing these infrastructure issues," says Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner (D).
Feiner says he has a list of projects still left to complete. The timeframe depends on how quickly emergency grants from the state and federal governments can be secured.
"Obviously we don't have the money to do everything at once. Every year in our town budget, I'm going to include funding for flood relief initiatives like this,” he said.
DiLorenzo and Zhou say the true test of the recent Troublesome Brook project is going to come during the next heavy rain over several days.
“I really hope we don't have the flooding here like we saw with Hurricane Ida a year ago,” said DiLorenzo.
Feiner says the town is going to take on two to three flood mitigation projects each year.