City officials: Pump station needed to redirect flood water on Asti Avenue

By Tara Vocino

On Tuesday afternoon, city officials and Asti Avenue residents gathered for a meeting to discuss where to divert water during heavy rainstorms.

“I’ve considered moving because of it,” said Asti Avenue resident Sean Ridings, who has lived there since 1999. “We have flooding up to our knees on Asti and Tuscano Avenues during rain.”

According to Chief of Infrastructure and Engineering Don Ciaramella, they’d have to dive into the capital improvement budget to allocate money to install a pump station to redirect the water sometime in the future. Small projects could alleviate the flooding.

Last Friday night, they received approximately three inches of rain in a short time period, leading to significant flooding up to the stairways in the surrounding streets.

Asti Avenue resident Rocco Falzone, who has lived there since 1970, said that for 50-plus years all past administrations ignored the ongoing flooding issues. “All I got was lip service,” Falzone said. “Acting Mayor Patrick Keefe, Jr. has been working with me for a while.”

Ridings said Tuesday’s meeting was a positive step forward, adding that the flooding has been “pretty much the same” over the years.

Weston & Sampson Team Leader Paul Greco said the pump station would free up capacity to allow water to drain into.

Hopefully, following decades of rain-soaked misery, the residents of Asti and Tuscano Avenues will get their pump station and a future without flooded streets and basements.