Floodwater bursts through NYC apartment wall weeks after tenant reported "mystery" leak
NEW YORK -- The situation for a NYCHA tenant has gone from bad to worse after ankle-deep water inundated her Brooklyn apartment during Wednesday's storm.
The foul-smelling water seemed to bubble up from a sewage drain on Yadira Soto's floor at the Borinquen Plaza Houses in Williamsburg.
"Every time it rains, it doesn't matter if it's light rain, heavy rain, we get flooded. The whole apartment gets flooded. It's so much water that the neighbors get hit with our water," said Soto.
"Out of nowhere ... the water just burst out"
Water also burst through her bedroom wall while she was in bed.
"Out of nowhere, we just heard like a loud rushing sound from the wall. And the water just burst out. I got soaked, I got hit with the wall. We had to get up quickly and just call the ambulance, the firefighters, everybody," Soto said.
Nobody was seriously hurt, but it was the latest storm Soto and her family had to weather in their home.
In June, Soto reported a mystery spout of water that floods the apartment when it rains. At the time, NYCHA said it needed to investigate the source of the leak.
"The water was up to your ankles"
Tenant Association President Eloisa Rowe said Soto's apartment needs to be vacated now.
"The water was up to your ankles. The water was gushing, gushing into this apartment, all the way to other apartments," Rowe said.
Tenant Association Vice President Shanequa Lewis said the city opened tickets to fix the problem weeks ago, but they were closed for some reason.
"There was no solid proof of why the tickets were closed for a lot of cases and it was noted as completed when the tenant said it was not," Lewis said.
In a statement to CBS New York on Friday, a NYCHA spokesperson said the housing authority "is coordinating with the resident, and a move to a new apartment at Borinquen Plaza will be facilitated tomorrow."
Raw sewage seeping onto sidewalks
CBS New York has also reported on years of raw sewage seeping onto sidewalks around the complex. Sources said that problem is hard to fix because the buildings don't have basements and the pipes are difficult to access.
In June, NYCHA said work was completed at two of six buildings affected by sewage leaks and a third was currently being repaired.
On top of it all, residents said they've been without gas for six months.
The Tenant Association said elected officials, including with the New York Attorney General's Office, are getting involved.
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