Sixteen
families who live on Brook Lane in Rye Brook are facing hundreds of thousands
of dollars in damages caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida – and they feel
no one cares.
"I
haven't heard anything from our elected officials I haven’t heard from the
mayor I haven’t heard from [Westchester County Executive] George Latimer. I
mean it’s ridiculous," said Lisa Ademaj.
Residents
believe the extreme flooding is being caused by business parks that line the
other side of the Blind Brook creek.
"They
have not addressed the drainage issue properly and when it rains everything
goes into the brook which is behind our house," says Ademaj.
The
brook lies in several jurisdictions. Residents say no one is taking
responsibility to mitigate future flooding, but instead “pointing fingers.”
Rye
Brook officials say one solution was identified during a 2014 engineering
study. It proposes creating two retention ponds on the SUNY Purchase property
upstream – a $500,000 project back then.
Residents
say the issue has been debated for years and now is the time for action.
Purchase
College President Milagros Peña said in a statement, “We are committed to
working with the community to help mitigate flooding, which is an increasingly
serious problem for our area. We welcome the opportunity to engage in a
community-wide discussion."