Bringing extra consideration to the want to fight extreme flooding in Queens, Rep. Grace Meng is inviting a Forest Hills resident impacted by flooding to be her visitor for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 9 p.m.
In September 2021, unprecedented flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Ida devastated Queens. Lives have been misplaced, and houses and property sustained in depth injury, and extra rainfall over the previous yr prompted further flooding all through the borough.
Allison Sesso is a longtime resident of Forest Hills whose home on Selfridge Road, which she had moved into two weeks earlier than Ida struck, was severely flooded throughout the storm. Water crammed her basement, and several other toes gushed into the first flooring. It destroyed a lot of her house’s inside, furnishings, private belongings and even a automobile, costing her nicely over $100,000 in injury.
“I am grateful for the diligent support of Congresswoman Meng,” mentioned Sesso, who works in Queens the place via a nonprofit, she helps low-income households remove staggering medical debt. “Queens residents need upgrades to our sewer systems that will prevent the loss of life, destruction of our homes, emotional anguish and financial uncertainty caused by increasingly common extreme rain events. I look forward to seeing progress on these needed infrastructure improvements.”
For Meng, tales like Sesso’s are heartbreaking, and it’s one thing that many others residing in Queens have been pressured to endure throughout Ida and different storms.
“After Ida, I visited affected constituents all across my district and saw the destruction firsthand. From tackling the impacts of climate change to upgrading local sewers and catch basins, this problem in our borough must be addressed, especially with the threat of more flooding in the future,” Meng mentioned. “Having Allison as my guest will help keep a light shining on this urgent issue and further underscore the need for our city, state and federal governments to take action. I thank Allison for accepting my invitation to attend and for sharing her harrowing ordeal.”
In Congress, Meng has labored to fight extreme flooding in Queens. After serving to to move the federal infrastructure invoice into legislation in late 2021, she has continuously urged the metropolis and state to present Queens with a portion of the billions that New York obtained, notably for enhancing sewers and catch basins in order that they’ll deal with rainfall produced by present storms.
In December, Biden signed her laws into legislation that authorizes the Military Corps of Engineers — in coordination with the metropolis of New York — to spend almost $120 million on upgrading environmental infrastructure in the borough, which embody initiatives to assist enhance water and wastewater infrastructure, stormwater administration and mixed sewer overflows.
Meng additionally joined the president when he visited Queens after Ida wreaked havoc on the borough.
Moreover, the congresswoman has urged the metropolis to think about using thousands and thousands in federal catastrophe funds to implement a voluntary buyout program for houses in Queens in danger of extreme flooding throughout storms.