Carisa Lee 

Res­i­dents, busi­ness own­ers, and bor­ough work­ers joined forces in Mar­aval this morn­ing to pull a re­frig­er­a­tor from an un­der­ground drain at Val­lot Street and Sad­dle Road.

The fridge, along with oth­er de­bris, had been block­ing the wa­ter­flow, and work­ers from the Diego Mar­tin Bor­ough Cor­po­ra­tion be­gan dredg­ing the drain in a bid to ease fu­ture flood­ing.

On Tues­day, just half an hour of rain­fall left Eller­slie Plaza, near­by homes, and Boissiere RC Pri­ma­ry School un­der wa­ter, forc­ing the ear­ly dis­missal of class­es and af­fect­ing five busi­ness­es. 

Stake­hold­ers say flood­ing in the area is a long­stand­ing prob­lem that has wors­ened in re­cent years. Par­ents at Boissiere RC, where flood­ing has plagued the school for more than sev­en years, are de­mand­ing ur­gent ac­tion, warn­ing that stu­dents’ health and ex­am prepa­ra­tion are at risk. Lo­cal coun­cil­lor Dami­an Fournil­li­er said a pro­pos­al is be­ing pre­pared for Cab­i­net to se­cure funds in the up­com­ing bud­get, but res­i­dents ar­gue that im­me­di­ate re­lief is need­ed.