Flood mitigation pump system located on the Midland Avenue side of the Bronxville School.  Photo by K. Outcalt

By Katharine Outcalt

Feb. 23, 2022: Ever wonder why Bronxville floods? My Hometown Bronxville sat down with village administrator, Jim Palmer, to get to the bottom of it.

One does not have to be a life-long resident of Bronxville to know that the village has a flooding problem. Over the last 15 years, Bronxville has fallen victim to four immense weather events that have resulted in massive flooding and considerable damage to our school, local businesses and homes.

Below are photos of massive flooding in 2007 and 2011 prior to installation of the Village's flood mitigation system.

So why does Bronxville flood? Bronxville’s village administrator, Jim Palmer, is passionate on this subject. As village administrator, Palmer’s job is to oversee the day-to-day operations of the village. This includes continuous monitoring that all functions of the village are operating at their utmost efficiency. For Palmer, the systematic flow of water through the village is one function that consumes much of his time.

“The village being located right along the Bronx River in and of itself makes us susceptible to flooding,” says Palmer. “In addition, the Midland Valley Drainage Basin (which sits at the intersection of Midland and Pondfield Avenues) has an elevation that is only slightly higher than the Bronx River and yet captures much of the stormwater from the village – even extending north into the Village of Tuckahoe,” said Palmer. “When you have a gravity system, the water can’t get out to the Bronx River fast enough,” adds Palmer.

The five-pump system that now sits on the Midland Ave. side of the school was installed following the 2007 and 2011 storm events to assist in the movement of water from this low point. This system, along with a new multi-million-dollar stormwater force main, was designed to move excessive rainfall away from our school and surrounding neighborhoods and out to Laurel Brook which then makes its way to the Bronx River.

Palmer explains that this system has worked “amazingly well” even in the case of September’s Tropical Storm Ida which still resulted in eight inches of water entering the “A and B” wings of the first floor of the school. “In the case of Ida, we saw an unprecedented 77% of an eight inch 24-hour rainfall event occur in 120 minutes,” explains Palmer. The pumps were designed for eight inches in 24 hours not two hours and if it weren’t for the fully operational flood pump system on that evening Palmer believes, “damages would surely have exceeded those of the 2007 storm event, which resulted in excess of 20 million dollars’ worth of damage. It would have been beyond catastrophic.”  Actual 2021 damages were $900,000.

While much has been put in place in recent years to mitigate flooding in the village, it has become increasingly clear that major weather events in our area are not going away. “We need to plan for larger events, perhaps shorter in duration and take our systems further out,” says Palmer.

The village’s flood mitigation plan currently includes working with Westchester County’s Stormwater Advisory Board on a comprehensive study of the corridor of the Bronx River that runs through Bronxville. Congressman Jamaal Bowman, the Army Corp of Engineers and the Department of Environmental Conservation are all being included in the conversation. In addition, the village continues to map, televise and clean the sanitary and stormwater sewer lines in an effort to make the two systems as secure and fully functional as possible. By analyzing this digital data, the village hopes to identify where improvements can be made to minimize further flooding.  The village is also coordinating efforts with the Village of Tuckahoe since their systems impact ours.

Palmer adds that Bronxville residents need to do their part as well to prevent flooding. In addition to making sure their sanitary and storm lines are separate and secure, residents are encouraged to have sufficient stormwater systems, such as dry wells, on their properties to capture run-off.

Palmer is confident in all the steps the village is taking to mitigate flooding, but he still worries about the next event. He recently had a small weather station installed at Village Hall so that he can track rainfall levels in the village. He admits to monitoring them on his phone on an hourly basis. Palmer shrugs it off as just being part of the job but it’s his new reality and all of ours too.

Flood photos by N. Bower, A. Warner and Staff