Residents Blame Movie Crews for Water Main Break

The Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Buildings and a New York City Fire Department unit were called in at 4:15 Monday afternoon to respond to a report of a water main break that was leaking an extensive amount of liquid into the basement of 230 Quincy Street between Bedford and Nostrand Avenues.

“I just want to say that this is the fault of the people who film 'Boardwalk Empire,’” said Ursula Atherley, resident at 230 Quincy Street.

Boardwalk Empire is an HBO cable television series that has been filming for the past six weeks at John Wesley United Methodist Church on Quincy Street and Nostrand Avenue.

Atherley said, two months ago, one of the film's crew trucks knocked off the fire hydrant and then took it away. “We let them know right away, and they did nothing about it.”

The DEP had been on the scene for over an hour, surveying the broken hydrant and buildings surrounding the flooded residence. But as of 5:30 pm, they could not find the source of the break.

“So far, we can't find a point of where the water’s coming from,” said Vic, a construction laborer with the DEP. “No leak here, no leak there, can’t get into those two houses; the sewer’s operating properly; it doesn’t seem to be leaking from the hydrant. We’ve never dealt with anything like this where there are no signs.”

Merle Atherley, Ursula’s mother and owner of 230 Quincy said her daughter alerted her to the flood Saturday morning. “Ursula heard the water running, and when she looked down into the basement, the water was just flowing down there,” she said.

“We contacted 311, 911, we’ve been calling for about two months. So I think the line was frozen until now, when it thawed,” said the daughter. “That’s probably what’s going on now with the breach. We’ve called them and there’s been no help with fixing this situation until now.”

“They’ve got to figure out where the water is coming from, they don’t know yet,” said Eddie Travers, fire chief at the Monroe station. “They’re calling for some equipment. But they don’t want to dig everything up. They think it’s probably a service from one of these houses that’s broken and that water is leaking into this house. That’s their best bet."

Ursual Atherley said the flood had not affected the electricity or water pressure in their home, but all of their storage was ruined.

"The DEP said they are not going to pay for [any damages]," Atherley said. "They claim that after we fix it, we have to sue [Boardwalk Empire] and get them to pay for it."