Seniors displaced after flood

Residents of 1888 Foster Meadow Lane have been left to wonder when they will be able to return to their homes after flooding last Friday afternoon caused them to evacuate.

New York state Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a state of emergency for Long Island Sept. 29 as up to seven inches of rain caused flash flooding in Nassau County.

Approximately 200-300 residents were evacuated from 138 Elmont Road by Fifth Precinct police, the Elmont Fire Department, the American Red Cross and the county’s emergency management office on Sept. 29. During the storm, basements of multiple apartment buildings at the Elmont Senior Center Complex were flooded with several feet of water. Officials said no injuries were reported.

The seniors were all brought to a shelter at New Hyde Park Memorial High School, where the American Red Cross supplied cots for them to sleep on.

Long Island Power Service Enterprise Group, known as LI PSEG, cut power to the buildings as an additional precaution during the storm.

Residents of the Westover Gardens apartment complex, which operates under the Town of Hempstead Housing Authority, returned to their homes Saturday evening.

Residents of 1888 Foster Meadow Lane, a privately-owned co-op, remain displaced from the flood. The facility is owned and run by Woods and Ruff Management, a private management company. Officials said that electrical damage to the building’s electrical system was extensive and management expects a report soon.

It could be weeks before residents are able to return to 1888 Foster Meadow Lane.

Pearlene Wilkinson, 87, an 11-year resident of 1888 Foster Meadow Lane does not know when she will be able to live in her apartment again. She returned to gather some belongings Sunday, when a town code enforcement officer told her he was not sure when the building would be able to open again.

She lives on the front side of the building, and when she saw the rain come down, she went over to a neighbor’s apartment to see the rear lot of the building had flooded.

“We could see the water pouring over like waterfalls,” Wilkinson said.

This is not the first time Wilkinson has seen the building flood. In 2021 when Tropical Depression Ida passed over Long Island, the building flooded and residents had to evacuate. Wilkson said she was displaced from her home from Sept. 2 until Nov. 8 after that storm.

The building was repaired after Ida, but this flooding has caused new damages to the lower level of the apartment complex. A creek runs behind the building, and the rain caused it to overflow and trickle downhill to flood the building.

“They can repair the building, but if the way that the water is flooding — if there’s no attention to that within the county or the city or whomever, the building will get repaired but the flooding is going to continue to happen,” said Michelle Wilkinson, Pearlene’s daughter.

Last weekend, Pearlene Wilkinson said the flooding was higher than when the building was evacuated in 2021.

“The county and the Town of Hempstead — they all know what the issue is and everyone is like, ‘It’s not our problem, it’s their problem,’ and we’re in the middle of it,” Pearlene Wilkinson said. “So, I don’t know where we go from here.”

Displaced residents of 1888 Foster Meadow Lane have had trouble finding shelter elsewhere, as the cots supplied at the New Hyde Park Memorial High School shelter aren’t ideal for the seniors to sleep on.

Jackie Davis’ parents live at 1888 Foster Meadow Lane. After the evacuation last Friday, Davis struggled to find a place for her parents to stay while the building remains condemned.

County Legislator Carriè Solages said he would write a request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to request the area be declared a federal disaster area and call for the county to investigate the specific causes of the flooding incident.

“This is not the first time that this area has experienced severe and disruptive flooding — and with climate change causing more frequent and increasingly severe weather events, it will sadly not be the last time,” Solages said. “It is incumbent upon all of us to do all we can to protect the quality of life and peace of mind that our residents deserve.”