Queens water damage restoration

Queens floods two ways. On the shoreline, along Jamaica Bay and the Atlantic in the Rockaways, Broad Channel and Howard Beach, the danger is surge: seawater pushed in by a storm. Superstorm Sandy in 2012 showed what that does. The NYC Health Department counts 52 injury deaths from Sandy in the city, most along the coasts, and 25 percent of them were in Queens. At least a third of those who drowned at home were found in a basement or lived in a basement apartment.

Inland, the danger is rain. In September 2021 Hurricane Ida dropped about nine inches of rain on New York City, and in some areas it fell at 3.5 inches an hour, twice NYC’s sewer capacity of 1.75 inches an hour. The National Weather Service issued its first-ever flash flood emergency for the city. Fourteen people died from causes related to Ida, and ten of them drowned in unregulated basement apartments. The Health Department’s point is that this kind of flooding can happen anywhere in the city, not only near the water. The Ida article has the full numbers.

NYC’s Department of Environmental Protection names four kinds of flooding: street flooding from blocked catch basins, coastal flooding, groundwater coming through foundation cracks or a leaking floor drain, and sewer backups when heavy rain overloads the pipes. A Queens basement can get any of them. Flood cleanup in Queens covers the cleanup; keeping the next one out, with backwater valves and downspouts, is on the basement waterproofing page.

In a one-family house the owner decides everything. In a two-family house with a tenant, or a building of three or more apartments, the rules change. NYC’s Health Department says owners of buildings with three or more apartments must keep tenants’ homes free of mold, and that includes safely repairing the leaks that cause it. Local Law 55 of 2018 puts the same duty in law and has owners inspect units every year. A tenant who sees a leak or mold should tell the landlord first, and if it is not fixed, file a complaint online or call 311.

In co-ops and condos, from the garden co-ops of Jackson Heights to the towers of Long Island City, the building’s management and the unit owner each have their own part and may each carry their own insurance. Tell the super or managing agent at once, because the source may be in a riser or the unit above, and record the damage in your unit before anything is cleaned up.

The IICRC S500 also puts finding and correcting the cause of the water on the property owner, not on the restorer. A restoration provider dries the building. The leak itself, a pipe, a water heater, a failed seal, is the owner’s to fix, often with a plumber.

This site cannot tell you what your policy covers, and no one should promise you a claim outcome before your insurer has seen it. The public sources are clear on one point: FloodSmart, the federal flood insurance program’s site, says most homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage, and only flood insurance covers the cost of rebuilding after a flood. FloodHelpNY says flood damage to a renter’s belongings is not likely to be covered by renter’s insurance. A flood policy generally takes effect 30 days after purchase, so it is a decision to make well before a storm.

Whatever your cover, the same habits help: photograph everything before it is moved, keep damaged items until they have been listed, keep receipts for anything you buy to dry out or protect the home, and write down the date and time the water started. Then check your own policy or ask your agent. For renters, the article on whether renters insurance covers water damage sets out what is known.