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Queens residents want solutions to the flooding problems the recent storms brought to the area and expressed their concerns at a town hall meeting in Fresh Meadows on Tuesday.

Addressing the flooding problem was U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D – Kew Gardens), who led the meeting. The ballroom of the Utopia Jewish Center was packed as people told stories to each other, some people experiencing minor damage while others had to buy new. They also expressed their questions and concerns to the congressman on paper his staff passed out.

Also joining Weiner were Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Emily Lloyd, a representative from the New York State Insurance Board and local politicians.

“I stand here as a homeowner who lives in Fresh Meadows who twice had my basement flooded with raw sewage,” said Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows). “We have a 19th century sewage system for a 21st century environment. This is supposed to be the greatest city in the world but parts of it when it rains look no better than a third world country.”

One man in the audience, who was vice president of the Utopia Jewish Center for 25 years, said people were sitting in the refurnished ballroom which cost $60,000 after damaging floods wrecked the room.

“We had one Corrigan who was walking down 67th Avenue to come to synagogue and there was no water at all but then he had a rush of water chasing him to the synagogue until he had water three feet up his leg,” he said. “We’re talking not only about creating damage here; we’re talking about possibly loss of life.”

The area that experienced the most significant problems was along Utopia Parkway between the Long Island Expressway and 69th Avenue. When the heavy rains come, storm sewers get full of storm water and sewage, rain water from the street can not recede, causing it to flood the street, said Commissioner Lloyd. She said the DEP walked the entire sewer systems after the storms to see if there was some type of obstruction or glitch in the design, but found nothing.

She said the next step is for the DEP to do flow monitoring, which is when censors are put in the entire drainage area and are monitored to help see what is going on. After the flow monitoring, the manhole covers could be fastened down and duck bills could be placed in the catch basins so water can’t come out.

“It will be less of it without sewage,” she said.

Commissioner Lloyd said she would still continue with the flow monitoring, which would be the basis for a new drainage plan that would take a year or two to design, but even if they had $10 million they wouldn’t be ready to design a dream system. It would take 20 years to design a new sewage system.

One man said, “The DEP is saying the floods are an act of God, but the insurance companies are saying it isn’t an act of God, you just happen to be in a bad place.”