Flooding, gas rupture worry New Hyde Park homeowners

Some residents of a New Hyde Park street evacuated after flooding caused a gas main to rupture during the weekend rains were left worrying Monday whether their homes could be salvaged.

All residents of Allen Street, a downward slope with about a dozen homes on each side, had to be evacuated after Sunday night's downpour caused the gas main to rupture. By Monday morning, residents from all but three of the Allen Street homes were allowed to return, officials said.

Flooding caused an 8-foot wall section of one house to collapse, rupturing the gas main, said Jim Callahan, spokesman for the Nassau Office of Emergency Management.

Ali Asgar's Allen Street home, purchased several months ago, sustained extensive and possibly irreparable damage.

Asgar, 35, said he returned home Sunday night to find his street under four or five feet of water.

He and his wife, Shabani Patel Asgar, moved from Queens Village with the hopes of sending their 3-year-old daughter to a better school.

"All my dreams have become a nightmare," Ali Asgar said.

"We lost our house," said his wife. "I don't know how I'm going to tell my daughter we don't have a house anymore."

Town of North Hempstead spokesman Collin Nash said the town's building department will have to conduct an inspection to determine whether the house needs to be knocked down.

Nash said two other homes can't be occupied until an engineer can certify to the building department that it is safe to return.

Allen Street has long had flooding problems, said resident Nick Carbonaro, who is suing the town and county over flooding in July 2007, when water filled his basement to the first floor. He said problems with the sewer system are to blame.

"Every time it rains, I stay up all night looking out the window, waiting for it to flood," he said.

Nash said officials could not comment because the lawsuit is pending.

Two families on the street accepted the Red Cross' offer for shelter in a hotel and money for food, said Nassau County chapter spokesman Sam Kille. The Red Cross had arrived around midnight to provide blankets and water to those evacuated while officials inspected homes, Kille said. Volunteers returned Monday with supplies.

Three other homes a few blocks away on Brian and Clyde streets also needed inspections because of flooding damage, Nash said, adding that it's possible one needs to be condemned.

With Chau Lam

and Sophia Chang