Northern New City Neighborhoods Hit Hard By Flooding

Northern New City was hit hard by flooding this morning from Hurricane Irene, with residents of the Lake Lucille community forced to evacuate.

Other neighborhoods throughout northern New City were also hit hard by a repeat of flooding like they say in big storms earlier this year.

Flooding from Lake Lucille this morning closed a section of Zukor Road north of the Paramount Country Club. Police Chief Michael Sullivan said most residents evacuated on their own but were able to return to the area. No one was reported injured in the flooding, although numerous homes were affected.

By early afternoon, flood waters had receeded, but downed power lines were still blocking an entrance to the Lake Lucille community and a section of South Moutain Road was closed.

Nearby on Cypress Street in northern New City, several homes on the street were affected by flooding that prompted one resident check on his neighbors with a row boat.

Cypress Street resident Steve Jesnes said he had 5 inches of water in the lower level of his house, although sandbags and plastic sheeting helped prevent the flooding from being worse in the home.

But for his neighbors Alan and Corrine Pochter, the situation was much worse. They had 13 inches of water in there home this morning and their home was surrounded by water. The Pochters had to wade through about four inches of water to reach their neighbors.

Alan Pochter said this is the third time this year his home has been flooded.

"This year has been bad for us," said Pochter, who has been in his home since 1994.

Before this year, Pochter said the last time his home was hit hard was during Hurricane Floyd. Late this afternoon, Pochter said the water had receeded from around his home — and now the clean up begins.

At Lake Lucille, residents said all the homes along Shore Road had flooding. Sullivan said most residents of the community had returned home or were staying with friends and relatives.

Nortern New City was also one of the areas hit hard by power outages. In Rockland, there are about 21,442 Orange and Rockland Utilities customers without power — 9,615 of those customers are in Clarkstown.