And yes, Newtown Creek did overflow, affecting LIC and Ridgewood along with Greenpoint

The Greenpoint Star reports that toxic Superfund site Newtown Creek did overflow and it “overwhelmed the streets of Greenpoint, flooding homes and companies in the area.” And since Newtown Creek is on the border between Queens and Brooklyn, it also overflowed into parts of Queens, including LIC/Dutch Kills and Ridgewood.

The flooding is going down, but “lingering questions” remain. Kate Zidar, executive director of the Newtown Creek Alliance said, “At the end of the storm, my question is what is the plan for Newtown Creek? We’re at the table ready to work with anyone who wants to work on this.”  dontflush.me posted a little grid of photos of Newtown Creek during the hurricane.

Here is a photo of the East Branch of the creek from Metropolitan Avenue in Ridgewood. Click to enlarge.

Image source: Newtown Creek Alliance

This photo of Newtown Creek is from DNAinfo.

Because of the Hurricane, the Newtown Creek Nature Walk has also been closed. This is on the Brooklyn side of the creek.

The Newtown Creek Alliance also issued this statement, post-Sandy:

Greetings NCA,
We have been busy with Sandy, and we just wanted to share a quick update with you.

Newtown Creek waterfront properties and roadways experienced flooding during the peak of the storm Monday night, and in several locations, subsequent high tides have brought repeat flooding. We have observed oil sheens and gloopy debris left behind in the flooded areas, and urge people to wash well if you contact flood zone muck.

We have much more to share about the past few days, but for now we want to send our support and thanks to the many heros of Monday night – in addition to the NYPD, FDNY and National Guard that were hard at work in Newtown Creek communities, we send a heartfelt thanks to Jimmy Pynn and our local DEP staff who kept the Newtown Creek sewage treatment plant online, even while the streets surrounding the plant were flooded.

Today are thoughts are with local waterfront businesses that were impacted and waterfront communities throughout the region that are struggling.

Check out our photos and the news pieces below that are relevant to Newtown…

Additionally, we came across this video of “a combined sewer overflow (CSO) in the Maspeth Creek tributary of Newtown Creek in New York. This was recorded 10/29/2012 at 12:48 pm.” An unpleasant thought, and just adding to the toxicity of Newtown Creek.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIeBjMreuZs]

Kate Zidar reminds us, “All waterfront properties took water, hundreds of properties. The standing water and residue that came from the creek should not be considered clean.” So, if your property was inundated with water from Newtown Creek, please take extra precautions when handling any remaining creek water and the things that touched it.

Sandy causes Newtown Creek to overflow its banks onto Greenpoint [Greenpoint Star]
Newtown Creek Flooding Environmental and Economic Concern, Advocates Say [DNAinfo]
Newtown Creek Alliance update [NCA]
Newtown Creek during Hurricane Sandy [dontflush.me]