The near-biblical flooding that made the north end of the recently renovated Cadman Plaza Park impassable last week was due to backed-up catch basins, according to a city official — an ongoing problem that makes walking through the park treacherous whenever it rains.
“The rest of the park is really nice, but this area is terrible,” said Deana Giordano, who had just climbed around the puddle by grabbing onto a nearby fence. “It’s a real inconvenience.”
But Giordano’s puddle-hopping on Monday afternoon was a walk in the park compared to last Wednesday’s torrential rains, which transformed the greenspace into an archipelago of grassy islands separated by fast-moving waterways.
“It was an absolute nightmare,” recalled one witness to the scene.
“If you wanted to cross the street and the park to get into DUMBO, you had to walk through a river. My feet and my pants were soaked.”
The Parks Department, which recently completed a $2.9-million renovation of the south end of the park, told The Stoop that the flooding was “a drainage issue, but it didn’t emanate from the park.”
“Several catch-basins clogged near the post office on Johnson Street, which caused flooding in the vicinity,” said Phil Abramson, a Parks spokesman.
“We’re working with the Department of Environmental Protection to resolve drainage issues that affect the park,” he added.
