Bringing more attention to the need to combat excessive flooding in Queens, Rep. Grace Meng is inviting a Forest Hills resident impacted by flooding to be her guest for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 9 p.m.
In September 2021, unprecedented flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Ida devastated Queens. Lives were lost, and homes and property sustained extensive damage, and more rainfall over the past year caused additional flooding throughout the borough.
Allison Sesso, a longtime resident of Forest Hills whose house on Selfridge Street, which she had moved into two weeks before Ida struck, was severely flooded during the storm. Water filled her basement, and several feet gushed into the first floor. It destroyed much of her home’s interior, furniture, personal belongings, and even a car, costing her well over $100,000 in damage.
“I am grateful for the diligent support of Congresswoman Meng,” said Sesso, who works in Queens where through a nonprofit, she helps low-income families eliminate staggering medical debt. “Queens residents need upgrades to our sewer systems that will prevent the loss of life, destruction of our homes, emotional anguish and financial uncertainty caused by increasingly common extreme rain events. I look forward to seeing progress on these needed infrastructure improvements.”
For Meng, stories like Sesso’s are heartbreaking, and it’s something that many others living in Queens were forced to endure during Ida and other storms.
“After Ida, I visited affected constituents all across my district and saw the destruction firsthand. From tackling the impacts of climate change to upgrading local sewers and catch basins, this problem in our borough must be addressed, especially with the threat of more flooding in the future,” Meng said. “Having Allison as my guest will help keep a light shining on this urgent issue and further underscore the need for our city, state and federal…
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