Residents and business owners near Green-Wood Cemetery have battled persistent flooding for years, with stormwater rushing downhill and inundating storefronts.

Now, a series of infrastructure upgrades aims to keep those waters contained and out of the streets.

Green-Wood Cemetery, which sits at the highest natural elevation in Brooklyn, has long been vulnerable to flooding due to its varied sloping landscape, and 3-acre pond at the center.

“It’s like rivers coming down the streets, coming from the cemetery,” said Theresa Watkinson, of Aladdin Bakers, one of the businesses located downhill from the site.

To address the issue, cemetery officials have installed underground reservoirs, water-holding gardens and permeable pavement designed to absorb and redirect runoff, first used this year during rainstorms.

“These are our permeable spacers,” said Joe Charap, director of horticulture at Green-Wood. “As the water builds up and runs off, it is caught between the spacers and goes between the gaps instead of out.”

The most significant upgrade involves the cemetery’s 3-acre lake, which now has the capacity to drain water prior to a storm into the city’s combined sewer system.

“We’re releasing many, many gallons of water into the combined sewer at a time when the system can still manage the load,” Charap said.

Downstream businesses say they are glad to see the upgrades.

“Less water in the system is definitely going to help all of us,” Watkinson said.

Eleven additional flood mitigation zones are planned, thanks to a new $1.811 million grant from the New York State’s Green Innovation Grant Program (GIGP).

Charap emphasized that the upgrades are meant to blend seamlessly with the landscape.

“They don’t change the history and look, but they do a lot underground,” he said. "This is how to be a good steward of private lands to help mitigate the impact on our neighbors.