WaterWays // Cloudbursts: Corona

What CALL is Doing…

In June 2024, CALL launched WaterWays with a public walk in Corona led by Mary Miss, ecologist Eric Sanderson, and Christian Cassagnol, District Manager of Queens Community Board 4. The walk explored the neighborhood’s flooding issues, historic ecology, and the role of community knowledge in creating sustainable, resilient solutions.

CALL has inaugurated an advisory committee of local organizations and a community committee of residents to guide the project. Partnerships have been established with key stakeholders, including the Hall of Science, Queens Museum, Queens Economic Development Corporation, and the Guardians of Flushing Bay. These partnerships will ensure WaterWay’s activities remain rooted in community needs and perspectives, directly influencing DEP’s work.

As a critical component of WaterWays, Mary Miss is developing a conceptual framework to address cloudburst impacts. The framework serves as a guiding document, keeping the project focused on effectively mitigating flooding and increasing public understanding of these intense rain events. Through this framework, walks, public engagement, and artistic collaboration, WaterWays will raise awareness about the environmental histories and current challenges of cloudburst sites. Local residents will have opportunities to co-create events and projects that address flooding while helping shape DEP’s approach to other cloudburst-prone areas. Public engagement will also highlight DEP’s efforts to mitigate flooding and inspire community advocacy for green infrastructure solutions.

What are Cloudbursts?

A maze of streams and wetlands were once visible across the landscape of New York City. Now in pipes buried underground, these waterways become visible again during heavy rains. A Cloudburst is the name given to sudden and intense rainfalls in a short amount of time. They can cause severe flooding, property damage, disrupt critical infrastructure, pollute New York’s rivers and Harbor, and even result in fatalities.  Frequent flooding disrupts daily life and damages support systems, particularly for some of New York City’s most vulnerable residents.

New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is addressing these risks through its new cloudburst mitigation efforts, which include retention tanks, bioswales, and permeable pavement. These systems absorb, store, and transfer rainwater, making neighborhoods more resilient to flooding and improving water quality by diverting runoff. DEP further mitigates flooding events with major infrastructure upgrades—sewer improvements, green infrastructure projects, and stream daylighting.

Corona, Queens, is a vibrant, diverse neighborhood with one of the largest and most densely populated immigrant communities in the city, primarily from Latin America and Asia. Corona’s low-lying topography and history of discriminatory urban planning practices, akin to redlining, make it highly vulnerable to cloudbursts. . Dense populations, impermeable surfaces, and inadequate drainage led DEP to select Corona as one of four hubs for its pilot plan for the management of Cloudburst areas. Many parts of Corona, especially near Flushing Meadows Corona Park—formerly marshland—lie at low elevations. Heavy rains often overwhelm the sewer system, leading to street flooding and even water entering buildings. This is a particularly dire issue in a neighborhood where many basements are used as housing. In response, CALL’s WaterWays Initiative collaborates with DEP to bring together artists, scientists, and local communities, ensuring all voices are included and engaged in the success of the project.

The WaterWays/Cloudburst initiative in Corona  reiterates and reaffirms CALL’s multifaceted approach, highlighting how art and science can address environmental challenges and empower communities.

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