Brooklyn Residents Brace For Flooding As Massive Sheet Of Ice Starts To Melt
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Dozens of Brooklyn residents are bracing for flooding now that a thick sheet of ice in front of their homes is starting to melt.
As CBS2's Marc Liverman reported, some residents are calling the stretch of sidewalk a deathtrap.
"We've never seen anything like this," said Michael Arnold.
The ice is so thick, residents were unable to get into their homes. It's so long, it covered nearly half of Midwood Street in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens.
"It was so frustrating and frightening, because you don't want anybody falling," Veronica Redhead said.
"We were skating coming outside our house," Jessica Quashie said.
It started right after last week's snowstorm. Add a burst pipe and deep freeze into the mix, and you get ice that's half a tire thick and cars frozen in their tracks.
"It took us like two hours to dig a car out right here," said Quashie. "We had to pour like hot water, take the salt, and just try to melt his wheels out."
The ice is close to half a foot thick and spans close to 10 houses. The big question now with the weather starting to warm up is: Where is all the water going to go?
"When the ice starts to melt, you know all that water is going this way. So then it's going straight down to the basement," Redhead said.
Farther down the street, Liverman also found water pouring out of the pavement. The owner will have it fixed by Wednesday, but that offered little comfort to residents.
"We've taken precaution and moved stuff out of the way," said Arnold. "Just in case the water does come down there, then we'll be ready for it."
With the temperatures soaring into the 40s, Arnold said he just hopes they'll be ready fast enough.
