N. Bellmore flooding's return is a mystery

Every time there is a sudden heavy rainfall we have flooding on Davenport Place, a street that connects Newbridge Road and Bellmore Avenue in North Bellmore. We contacted the Town of Hempstead and they cleaned the storm drains. But last fall, our street flooded badly again. Within minutes, the water moved up the lawn. I'm worried if we ever get a bad storm, the house will flood.

--Fredda Schildt, North Bellmore

The Town of Hempstead acted quickly after we called, visiting the site to evaluate the problem, but workers didn't find blockages in the road's drain lines or see any significant puddling during a recent rainfall.

Town spokesman Michael Deery said the highway department also contacted Nassau County, which has jurisdiction over Bellmore Avenue. Since Davenport's storm drain lines feed into Bellmore Avenue's lines, Deery said any blockage problem involving Bellmore could be spilling over into Davenport.

However, the county's Public Works Department reported no problems last month, after evaluating the drainage system on Bellmore Avenue. "We believe that this [flooding] occurred in a severe storm that overwhelmed the local roadway drains," public works spokesman Michael Martino wrote in an email.

Deery said the town will continue to monitor Davenport by sending out engineers to survey the road's drainage during storms. He also encouraged Davenport Place residents to immediately report any flooding by calling 516-489-5000.

--MICHAEL R. EBERT

Debris and leaves periodically accumulate on sidewalks on the east side of New Hyde Park Road. I have called the Town of North Hempstead 311 hotline in the past to report the problem. It's a hazard to the handicapped or elderly because you can't see if a section of sidewalk is raised or crooked.

--Angela Milillo, New Hyde Park

The sidewalks have been cleared for walkers. Within 48 hours of our call, Nassau County's Public Works Department sent a crew to clean the nearly quarter-mile stretch of sidewalks on New Hyde Park Road.

When she noticed the cleanup, Milillo notified us by email. She wrote, "YEAH!!!!!"

Public works spokesman Mike Martino said the county tries to visit trouble spots such as this one every eight to 12 weeks. However, he added, "many times we are notified by residents, which can improve response."

Nassau residents with similar maintenance issues on county roads can call 516-571-6900.

--MICHAEL R. EBERT

Last August, we wrote about the concerns of Ray Winslow, a Nesconset father with four kids. He had contacted us because a decaying tree on property owned by Suffolk County adjacent to his property was dropping large limbs into his backyard where his children play. But he couldn't seem to make officials understand the danger in the situation, even after a large limb fell on the kids' playhouse.

We had called county spokesman Mark Smith. That prompted an inspection by the Division of Real Estate, which then got two estimates: one to remove dying limbs, the other to take out the whole tree. Smith said at the time, "It's on our radar that it's something that needs to be done."

But after nearly 10 months, nothing's changed. Mr. Winslow contacted us again because, with warmer weather here, his kids want to play in the yard, but he feels that the tree still poses a danger.

In an email last week, Smith said the county got the estimates, but an adjacent property owner said the tree was on his land and didn't want the tree removed. So the county asked the neighbor and Mr. Winslow for surveys of their property to verify the ownership of the parcel with the dying tree.

We're hard pressed to understand why the county's Real Estate Division doesn't know whether it owns this sliver of property the tree is on, but this is what we're being told.

Smith said another glitch in taking down the tree is that the adjacent property owner won't allow any equipment that's needed for the tree removal on his land. "And even if it turns out it [the tree] is on the county side and not his, authorization would be needed from that property owner as well in order to properly do the job."

If the neighbor changes his mind and both parties submit surveys, Smith wrote, "we can revisit the issue."

Sounds like the county is leaving this problem for the next administration to solve.