STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Exactly 13 years after Hurricane Sandy devastated South Beach, residents of Doty Avenue faced significant flooding once again, with approximately 3 feet of water submerging the street during Thursday’s storm.
“We’ve had about 3 feet of water on the block. It’s starting to go down now,” resident John Kalnberg told the Advance/SILive.com on Thursday night. “But you know, this block had 17 feet of water during Sandy. Today is the anniversary — 13 years later — and the block flooded again. The cars were underwater.”
Kalnberg, 67, who has lived on the block for 40 years, said his house was completely destroyed during Sandy and had to be rebuilt from the ground up.
“My house was underwater up to the second floor, so they had to knock it down and rebuild it,” he explained. “Now my house is elevated 17 feet.”
Hurricane Sandy ravaged the borough‘s East Shore when it made landfall Oct. 29, 2012.
Despite the elevation protecting his home, Kalnberg noted that newer houses further down Doty Avenue were not as fortunate.
“There are new houses down the block that had their entire basements flooded because they’re at street level and their driveways slope toward their homes,” he said.
The flooding extended from Capodanno Boulevard to Robin Road, according to Kalnberg, who attributed the problem to the neighborhood’s sewer system.
Around three feet of water submerged Doty Avenue in South Beach on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025, exactly 13 years after Hurricane Sandy struck Staten Island.(Courtesy of John Kalnberg)
“What happens here is our sewers empty out into the ocean. So, at high tide, the sewer gates close, and water backs up from the ocean onto the block,” Kalnberg explained. “That’s what happened today — everything came up through the sewer and flooded the whole block.”
He also recounted some of the harrowing experiences from Sandy, including the tragic death of a 25-year-old neighbor who stayed behind during the storm and was electrocuted in his basement. “A lot of the people who stayed couldn’t get out after it was over,” Kalnberg said.
The long-term displacement caused by Sandy has left lasting impacts on the neighborhood. “We’ve only been back in our house for about four years. We were out for almost nine years,” Kalnberg said.
After dealing with flooding for more than four decades, Kalnberg expressed frustration that the problem persists despite the catastrophic storm of 2012.
“It’s just crazy because 13 years later, it’s still happening,” he said. “This has been going on forever for me. But after Sandy, I thought they would do something. This is insane.”
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