Residents who live around 77th Street and 10th Avenue in Brooklyn say that for years, they have been facing a huge problem of sewage backing into their basement when it rains.  

“I check this storm watch app to track storms when I’m on vacation, and when I see the red cloud pop up over the neighborhood, I have to call my neighbor to turn on the pump just in case it gets quiet,” said resident Brad Hennessy, who has lived nearby for over a decade. 

Brooklyn residents told News 12 that back in the '90s, the Department of Environmental Protection started a project to fix the sewage lines that was never completed.  

Video from one resident’s house during Hurricane Ida shows intense levels of flooding in their basement with sewage water backed up.  

The DEP provided the following statement regarding this issue:  

“Climate change is bringing more intense storms to NYC that can overwhelm the capacity of the sewer system, and in many cases the sewers cannot be built any larger than they already are. The DEP completed the upgrade of the 10th Avenue sewers several years ago – there is no unfinished project.”