Mayor Says City Sewer System May Need Overhaul

WNYC News | Jul 12, 2010

New York, NY —

MTA officials and the city agree that problems with the city sewer system were a major factor in yesterday's subway flooding. Mayor Bloomberg says the infrastructure may need a serious overhaul.

BLOOMBERG: The sewer system designed many years ago was not intelligently designed to handle runoff from the streets at the same time it was handling the sewage.

REPORTER: Governor Spitzer is asking the MTA for a report in the next 30 days explaining why heavy rains continue to paralyze the system. Meanwhile, the Mayor toured the heavily damaged neighborhood of Sunset Park, Brooklyn yesterday where the National Weather Service says a tornado touched down with winds from 111 to 135 miles per hour uprooting trees and damaging homes.

The mayor said crews would work around the clock to clean up the debris.

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