We’re over a month into hurricane season and heavy rainstorms are already starting to turn their heads toward the city. This means trouble, especially for people living in basement apartments.
For Matthew Sooknanan, a “Basement Apartments Safe for Everyone” (BASE) campaign organizer at Chhaya CDC, the rain earlier this month meant hearing from more people renting basement apartments seeking help recovering from flooding. It’s exactly the kind of situation the BASE campaign — a coalition that organizes to increase the number of legally-recognized, affordable, and safe basement apartments in the city — was created to assist basement apartment tenants with. One tenant he’s been helping experienced extensive damage.
“Furniture was a big thing that got messed up,” he said. “And that’s like a noticeable one because it’s super expensive, and if you have a flood and it messes with your furniture, then the process of cleaning it or getting new furniture takes up a lot of time, as well as cleaning out the unit after a flood.”
Being at a lower elevation than other parts of a home, basements are at a higher risk of flooding whenever it rains — whether it’s from stormwater leaking in from outside, groundwater seeping in from underground or sewage backing up through your pipes.
So many New Yorkers living in basement apartments are at risk of a similar situation, but while experts say the safest thing to do is not live in a basement apartment in the first place, Sooknanan says it’s just not realistic to get everyone out. It’s not clear exactly how many New Yorkers are living in basement apartments because there’s no way to keep track, but former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office estimated in 2021 that at least 100,000 people are living in over 50,000 basement apartments across the city.
Here are some tips to protect yourself, your loved ones and your belongings during the next storm.
Know your flood risk and stay informed
While no basement apartment is immune to flooding, some are at greater risk than others depending on location. High-risk areas for flooding include Corona, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Kissena Corridor Park, and the Rockaways in Queens as well as East New York, Canarsie, the South Bronx, and Lower Manhattan.
If you’re unsure of your area’s flood risk, you can look it up on FloodHelpNY.org, a free tool that informs NYC residents about flooding and things they can do to protect against it.
It’s also smart to stay informed about sudden emergency weather conditions that could put you at risk while living below ground level. Giovanna McClenachan, a systems ecology professor at Stony Brook University who researches how both ecosystems and society respond to environmental disturbances like storms, said she recommends signing up for the city’s emergency alerts system to know when flash floods could impact your area.
“As someone who lived in New Orleans for almost a decade, I signed up for all my alerts I could and if there was any sort of hurricane or flooding alert, I definitely took that seriously,” she said.
Anyone can sign up for Notify NYC, the city’s free emergency alerts system, by texting “NOTIFYNYC” to 692-692 to receive citywide emergency updates directly on your phone, or downloading the app at nyc.gov/notifynyc. In addition to offering general emergency weather updates, there’s also the option to sign up for notifications “specifically designed to alert those living in basement apartments about life-threatening weather conditions.”
Alongside signing up for these alerts on your phone, McClenachan also stressed the importance of installing a flood alarm. “Anybody in a basement apartment should put in a flood alarm,” she said, especially recommending it for people who tend to sleep through their regular alarms and notifications.
Flood alarms work similarly to how smoke alarms do: when water comes into contact with the alarm, it starts ringing loudly to let you know. They’re also similarly affordable, with many retailing for less than $20 online.
“If we’re talking about maybe not being able to save all your personal belongings but saving lives, I think that’s a great thing that should be put in every single basement apartment,” McClenachan said.
Be prepared to leave, and have a plan
Being prepared to leave and following through when weather conditions get bad is also important, McClenachan said. The best thing someone can do to survive a bad storm while living in a basement apartment is to get out and find higher ground.
“I think that’s where a lot of fatalities in hurricanes happen, because people decide to ride it out instead of just leaving,” she said. “Sometimes you’ll be fine and sometimes you won’t, and I think that’s the thing.”
Water levels can rise quickly and trap anyone inside a basement, leaving them with nowhere to go — a lethal situation that killed 11 people when Hurricane Ida hit the city in 2021.
“Don’t get complacent when you see those alerts come through,” McClenachan added. “Even if eight times in a row your apartment didn’t flood, I would still stay kind of vigilant and just grab your things, go sit on the stoop, ride the rain out — that’s the easiest thing you can do in that instance.”
McClenachan also recommends keeping an emergency bag packed with valuable essentials, including important documents, to make it easier to leave a subground apartment quickly in the event of emergency weather. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has guidelines on what to include in an emergency supply kit for situations like this, including some essentials like water and non-perishable flood, but also things like prescription medications, a dry change of clothes, some cash and other things other members of your household need in case you end up being displaced by the storm.
Protect your valuables and important documents
Keeping valuables and important documents safe for an emergency evacuation also means keeping them safe from water damage. In addition to wet furniture and extensive damage to her floors, a Queens-based neighbor named Angy said she experienced flooding for the first time in her basement apartment during a September storm a couple of years ago. She said she and her daughter were home alone when the plumbing in their bathroom started backing up and flooding the rest of their home.
“We didn’t know what to do and I was calling the super to help me because the water was coming inside like a river,” she said. “So much water.”
In addition to wet furniture and extensive damage to her floors, she said some of her documents and important papers were ruined by the water.
She now moves her important documents to a higher level in her apartment when she knows it’s going to rain to avoid the possibility of water damage — something McClenachan also recommends doing.
“Make sure all your valuables are not on the floor at all times, just kind of always have them lifted up so that way if you get like an inch of water in your basement, you’re not losing anything and getting damaged in that regard,” she said. “So just kind of make it a priority to build some shelves and put everything up, you know, a foot off the ground just to keep that from being a problem.”
In the event that items do get damaged, FEMA has published a resource in multiple languages detailing how to salvage water-damaged family treasures, including important documents.
While Angy said that the September storm was the only time she experienced flooding in her roughly 22 years living in her basement apartment, she’s still concerned it could happen again whenever it rains and outdoor drains get clogged.
“When it rains like that I get scared that it might flood again,” she said.
Consider getting insurance
“If you can get renters insurance, get it,” said Divya Sangameshwar, an insurance expert and spokesperson from ValuePenguin.
A renters insurance policy — specifically one that covers damage from flooding — could also help you protect your belongings in the event that water does make its way into your apartment. While some standard renters insurance policies cover water damage to personal belongings, most don’t cover water damage from weather-based flooding, so it’s important to find a policy specifically for flood damage, like standalone flood insurance for renters.
“If you’re planning to get renters insurance policies, just look at the policy documentation to see what it covers and what it doesn’t cover,” Sangameshwar said.
After reaching out to current insurance agents for answers, Sangameshwar added that qualifying for insurance while living in an illegal basement apartment is a gray area because it’s not a legal residence up to code. While you might be able to get a policy in this situation, it’s difficult to guarantee it will be honored if you end up filing a claim.
“You can apply for a policy and if the insurance company’s vetting allows you to get a policy, then you should be covered,” she said. “However, the caveat is when you file a claim, it can become potentially problematic.”
Know your rights — and your neighbors
While experts like Sangameshwar and McClenachan recommend avoiding renting a basement apartment altogether if possible, Sooknanan said it’s just not realistic to do that or find everyone living in basement apartments in New York City other places to live.
“It’s hard to say that when there are tens of thousands or possibly hundreds of thousands of people living in basement apartments in the city already,” he said .”So I sort of see that as it’s not a matter of getting the people out of the basement apartments and finding new housing — it’s a matter of making those basement apartments safe.”
Aside from the legal avenues New York City can take to make apartments safer, like the new basement legalization program in which homeowners in 15 community districts can apply to properly convert their basements into rentable units, he emphasized the importance of tenants maintaining a speaking relationship with their landlord and their neighbors.
This way, tenants can talk about different plans in case a flood were to happen, or coordinate different activities to “just talk about what’s going on and what their life experiences are.”
“Because people are often surprised at how many people are going through the same thing and live really close to them,” he said.
Tenants of basement apartments have the same rights as any other tenant in New York City, including the right to a safe living environment. However, if the basement apartment you’re living in isn’t legal, you may not have the same leverage as tenants of legal basement apartments according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
“If you’re unable to establish a relationship with the landlord, or if they’re negligent, or if there’s even harassment involved, then report a unit to HPD DOB 311,” Sooknanan said.
“Tenants’ rights really supersede regardless of the person and where they are,” he added. “You would be able to seek out your rights regardless of the risk at place because if your landlord were to be retaliatory and then do something to your neighbor or to you because you were to report something, then that’s a cause for legal action.”
People have their reasons for renting basement apartments, like Angy, who needed to find a place to live quickly after moving to the United States, and continues to live in her apartment despite many other issues with it due to the rising cost of living and rent across the city.
If you find yourself looking for a basement apartment to move into, the Department of Buildings has some tips for renters to spot an illegal basement apartment or other illegal conversions. If you’re still not sure about the legality of the basement apartment you’re moving into, Sangameshwar said landlords have to have their own landlord insurance policy, so make sure to ask about it.
“Just to make sure that they have liability coverage in case your house gets destroyed,” she said.
The post How to prepare for flooding if you live in an NYC basement apartment appeared first on Epicenter NYC.