Flooded streets in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park are becoming a sight that’s all too familiar, but a major infrastructure investment could help.
City leaders say it is a long-term project to battle the impacts of climate change.
Brooklyn’s first Bluebelt expected to be completed by 2032
Images of fast-moving water overwhelming Brooklyn streets have become increasingly common in recent years, especially during heavy storms like Tropical Storm Ophelia in September 2023, when the entrance to Prospect Park briefly resembled a river.
“We’ve seen the images of flooded basements, impassable intersections, and families worrying every time the forecast calls for a storm. That fear is unacceptable,” Councilwoman Rita Joseph said.
That’s why the city’s Parks Department and Department of Environmental Protection are investing $50 million toward flood-prevention upgrades in Prospect Park. The project aims to buffer the beloved greenspace and surrounding communities that routinely face waterlogged streets and drainage backups.
“The four most intense rainstorms in all of New York’s history have taken place in the last four years and two months,” DEP Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala said.
The effort will create Brooklyn’s first Bluebelt, a large-scale stormwater management system that uses natural landscapes to absorb and redirect rainfall. The work is expected to be completed by 2032.
“This work means faster drainage, new rain gardens, restored wetlands and nature-based flood protections that keep homes and streets dry,” said Jeffrey Roth, the city’s Deputy Mayor of Operations.
Upgrades include ability to lower lake’s water level before storms
Prospect Park Alliance President Morgan Monaco said worsening flooding is partly due to long-term changes in the park’s landscape.
“The original [Frederick Law Olmsted] and [Calvert Vaux] design was really forward-thinking and inventive in that all of the stormwater drains naturally … and over the course of 150 years, of course, things change and there’s a lot of soil compaction,” Monaco said.
Community Board 14 Chair Karl-Henry Cesar said residents have pushed for these improvements for more than a decade.
“What I’m hoping for with this, and what the residents are hoping for as well, is that when these measures are implemented, you will see a noticeable difference in terms of less flooding coming from the park and impacting the people who live in these areas,” Cesar said.
Among the upgrades, the city will gain the ability to lower Prospect Park Lake’s water level before major storms.
“Create space in the lake so that the drainage flows into the lake, rather than flowing out of the lake,” Aggarwala explained.
Renderings show added rain gardens along West Drive, a new pond, and other green infrastructure.
“We’re using nature and a little bit of modern technology to really capture stormwater in a natural way and enable that to come filtered into the lake and prevent any erosion within the park,” Brooklyn Parks Commissioner Martin Maher said.
The plan also includes the restoration of a pond conceived 150 years ago by park designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, but never built. Construction is slated to begin in 2029.
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