Brooklyn man dies trying to save dogs from flooded basement apartment, neighbors say

Two people died in flooded basements during Thursday’s intense rain and flash flooding in New York City.

A 39-year-old man was killed in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and a 43-year-old man, identified as Juan Carlos Montoya Hernandez, was found dead inside a boiler room in Washington Heights on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. 

Brooklyn flooding victim died trying to save his dogs, neighbors say

Heavy rain causes flash flooding on Thursday, Oct. 30 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

CBS News New York

Neighbors on Kingston Avenue in Crown Heights say the 39-year-old man named Aaron was killed scrambling to save his dogs. He rescued one and went back inside for another, but never resurfaced. 

“He went for one dog, brought one up. He went down for the next dog, and he never came back alive,” neighbor Kenneth Oates said. 

“Happy go lucky guy, loved his dogs, always came out and talked to everybody around here,” said neighbor Richard Hegel.

An FDNY scuba team recovered the man’s body after the storm inundated the neighborhood. 

Neighbors say they had to clear storm drains themselves

Residents in Crown Heights, Brooklyn say the storm drains were cleaned for Thursday’s deadly storm. 

CBS News New York

Officials sent out warning notifications about potential flooding Thursday, but residents say the city never dispatched crews to clear out their clogged storm drains. 

Neighbors stood in the rain for hours, sweeping away leaves, dirt and debris themselves, but it wasn’t enough. 

“They know when it’s going to rain or whatever, clean the drain. This is dangerous business, and somebody actually died,” neighbor Sylvia Elcock-Als said. 

“It looked catastrophic. You could see the dirt. There were guys up to mid-thigh at every sewer raking, raking, raking. There were three cars here bucketing their water out,” said Hegel.

Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Rohit Aggarwall told CBS News New York the department works to clear the city’s 150,000 catch basins ahead of each storm and it had 38 crews ready to respond to reports of flooding. He said the city’s sewer system was overwhelmed by the record rainfall, and there was no way to respond to the 800 calls that came in within a short period of time. 

He also said heavy rain can sweep leaves into catch basins that have already been cleaned, and that crews found up to a foot of leaves blocking some drains in Brooklyn. At this point, it’s unclear if the DEP had crews in this particular neighborhood in Crown Heights. 

Investigators with the Department of Buildings are looking into the man’s death. They issued a partial vacate order for the property and said a second exit door in the basement was blocked.