How New York City's Homeless Survived the Flood and Hurricane Ida: Personal Stories

On Wednesday night, August 1, the remnants of Hurricane Ida hit New York. The result was a record downpour that quickly spilled into the sewer system in parts of the city. He killed at least 13 New Yorkers, most of whom lived in basement apartments. Gothamist.

The National Weather Service has issued the first ever flood warning for the city. Mayor Bill de Blasio has declared a state of emergency. He warned New Yorkers in a tweet to stay indoors, rather than on the streets and subways, so that emergency responders can get their jobs done.

For the roughly 4000 New Yorkers who sleep on the city streets and on the subway every night, staying indoors on Wednesday nights was easier said than done. The pouring rain fell suddenly and somewhat unexpectedly. When the subway system went down, many homeless New Yorkers were trapped in the elements. They all tried to find a safe and dry place to weather the storm.

Daniel

Daniel, homeless since March 2020, sleeps under scaffolding most of the evenings. According to him, he does not feel safe in city shelters.

On Wednesday night, he made it to the scaffolding in midtown Manhattan and stayed underneath as the storm raged around him. He stayed up all night, trying to stay away from the wet sidewalk, dodging places where rain poured through the scaffolding above. He says he got wet anyway.

When he sat on the sidewalk in Midtown on Friday afternoon, September 3, his bag was still damp and his clothes had only dried the day before. “When it rains, I dry out for at least another 24 hours,” he said. "The heat of my body dries my clothes."

"Ray Ray"

The man known by the pseudonym "Ray Ray" also took refuge under a scaffold on Wednesday night in midtown Manhattan. He says he was able to stay relatively dry using milk boxes and trash bags. And the "small river" flowed along the ground below.

“I wrapped the garbage bag around my waist and legs, tied it very well. At some point, I threw the bag over my body and made holes for my ankles and hands to keep my clothes dry, ”he said.

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Like Daniel, he spends most of his nights under the scaffolding. He makes himself a bed of milk boxes to avoid rats.

“It's terrible, but the shelter system is so bad. They steal from me, rob me, they try to impose drugs on me, ”he said.

Nicholas

On the night of the storm, Nicholas managed to infiltrate the Seventh Avenue church in Manhattan.

However, he was unable to bring his belongings and lost an expensive set of tools, which he said he needed to work as an electrician.

I didn't know what to do. I was literally stuck and terribly wet, ”he said. “I put my things down. When I returned, they were gone. " On Friday, September 3, afternoon, he sat on the sidewalk near Union Square, trying to collect donations to buy a bus ticket and a new set of tools.

Lewis

Lewis, a Vietnam War veteran who was homeless in the past. He currently lives in the basement of his aunt's home in the Bronx. Lewis says the floodwater came out through the sewers and under the outside door in the basement. His things got wet. He showed a video he had filmed showing water rushing 5-8 centimeters across the basement floor.

“I believe the sewer system was so congested that the water had nowhere to go, so it just spilled out,” Lewis said. "The next step I turned around, and the water just gushed in." He says it took him five or six hours to clear the water with a broom.

Homeless New Yorkers who routinely spend their nights on city trains or subway stations lost many of these opportunities during the storm. Many metro stations were severely flooded and the metro was stopped overnight.

At the stations in flood conditions that posed a safety risk, everyone was asked to leave, including the homeless, according to an MTA spokesman.

There was no direct collaboration between the MTA and the City Department of Homelessness (DHS). They couldn't connect the homeless New Yorkers who were removed from the system during the storm with the shelters. DHS did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.

For Jacqueline Simone, senior policy analyst for the Coalition for the Homeless, Wednesday's storm showed just how inadequate a diversified system of scaffolding, subways, and shelters is for people who rely on them for shelter.

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“Homeless and homeless people are tragically and predictably most at risk during extreme weather events,” she said. “In danger and without the protection of their own home, they are exposed to natural disasters. The climate crisis [...] underlines the urgent need for housing as a basic human right. ”

Benjamin

Benjamin, homeless since February 2019, tried to escape the storm by hiding in the subway system. He says he entered Bryant Park Station when it started raining. But eventually the station began to flood and the workers asked him and the others to leave.

He made it to The Elgin Bar on 48th Street in the Diamond District. Benjamin spent the evening under the restaurant's outdoor dining area where he could stay dry.

Benjamin said he would rather sleep outside than deal with conditions in one of the city's shelters. “The city can do more than what it does with the shelters,” he said. "It is heartbreaking that there are not enough useful resources for people in a developed city like New York."

While thousands of New Yorkers sleep on the city streets every night, the vast majority of the city's roughly 50 homeless sleep in shelters, hiding the true extent of the crisis.

Some shelters had to limit their capacity during the pandemic; Bowery Mission's Tribeca campus sheltered 194 people every night. Due to social distancing restrictions, the shelter now has 52 beds. They all fill up every night, according to social life manager Michael Wheeren.

Because the severe weather warning was unexpected, the mission was unable to educate the homeless about the storm or prepare to receive additional people. “We share information with our guests and customers as much as possible. Our homeless community really does spread information by word of mouth. But that was just a surprise and very sad, ”Wheeren said.

Steve

A man named Steve had just left the hospital and was sitting on the sidewalk outside Times Square on Friday afternoon. He says he drove the storm under scaffolding that didn't offer him much protection. He got wet and all his belongings were destroyed.

“Everything was spoiled and wet,” he said. “Clothes, sleeping bag, documents. I've lost everything. "