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YONKERS, N.Y. Walking through the courtyard at Brooklands, a Yonkers co-op complex, Ladovik Tinaj can still remember the scene from a year ago when Hurricane Irene slammed New York and much of the East Coast.
He remembers standing in the basement of the complex where water levels reached 5 feet high, flooding the boiler room, knocking out electricity and destroying the elevators.
He also recalls watching the courtyard of the U-shaped complex flood as the tiny cement barrier along the Sprain Brook Parkway gave way to the rising water levels.
Everything was underwater, said Tinaj, the assistant superintendent of the complex. It was like a lake in here.
Tuesday will mark the one year anniversary of Hurricane Irene landing in New York. Statewide, the storm, along with Tropical Storm Lee, which touched down a week earlier, caused an estimated $1.6 billion in damage. In Westchester, storm recovery projects are expected to top $19 million.
Kerry Smith, president of the Brooklands cooperative's board, estimated his complex alone was subjected to $3.3 million worth of damage. Residents in all of the 24 ground level co-ops were forced to evacuate the complex when their homes were flooded during the storm, Smith said.
It was devastating, he said. There was absolutely nothing you could salvage. A lot of people lost everything.
Brooklands struggles from Irene are a familiar story for many living along the Bronx River, neighborhoods in the midst of the citys most devastated parts.
Less than a mile away from the complex, along Brooke and Millard Avenues, a half dozen residents were evacuated from their homes during the storm. Meanwhile, an untold number of cars were stuck in flooded streets.
In addition, city officials said more than 25 people in the Longvale neighborhood had their basements fully flooded as a result of Irene. Con Edison was also forced to shut off the areas power, along with parts of the adjacent Cedar Knolls neighborhood, after the storm hit.
Across town, on Alexander Street, torrents of water overwhelmed the North Yonkers Pump Station, dislodging a manhole cover and causing an unknown amount of sewage to spill.
Last week, city officials said recovery from the storm is an ongoing process.
We are still taking steps to recover from Irene as well as to mitigate for future storms, especially at the water treatment plant where we have invested significant resources to relocate power distribution out of the basement and onto the main floor, said Thomas Meier, commissioner of the Department of Public Works.
Meanwhile, at Brooklands, signs of recovery are slowly starting to show. After months of cleanup, residents evacuated during the storm were finally given the OK last week to move back in to their homes. Roughly a half dozen have done so, Tinaj said, with the rest expected to filter in during the upcoming weeks.
On Sunday, as she prepared her home to entertain guests for the first time since the storm flooded her building, Jane Gaffney said it was nice to be back.
I am thrilled to be home, she said. Theres no place like home.
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