Water Damage Restoration on Staten Island: Detached Homes, Basements and the South Shore

Water damage restoration on Staten Island tends to mean a house, not an apartment. On the East and South Shores, one- and two-family homes make up 90% of all buildings, most of them detached and many of them wood-frame, according to the city's 2013 post-Sandy recovery report. Water reaches those houses from below, through basements, crawl spaces and sewer lines, and near the beaches it can come straight off the ocean. Either way, the work starts the same: shut off the source, trace the water, and get it dry fast.

GlobePro Restoration answers (929) 969-2534 day and night, from St. George to Tottenville.

Staten Island, Nov. 6, 2012, after Hurricane Sandy. Photo: DVIDSHUB, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

What Sandy did to the East and South Shores

Superstorm Sandy killed more people on Staten Island than in any other borough. The city's recovery report on the East and South Shores counts 23 storm-related deaths on the island, and all but one were on those two shores.

Peak storm tides reached 16 feet, almost five feet higher in Tottenville than at the Battery in Manhattan. The report explains why: the coastlines of Long Island and New Jersey are angled so that, in some storms, they funnel water straight into this part of the harbor. The surge was devastating for Oakwood Beach, South Beach, Midland Beach and New Dorp Beach. Wave damage was especially severe for low-rise homes in Midland Beach, South Beach and New Dorp Beach and along Father Capodanno Boulevard, and a number of winterized bungalows in the area that weren't properly anchored washed off their foundations.

The age of the houses matters too. The report says 59% of the area's one- and two-family homes were built before 1983, before current flood-protection standards were in place.

Ocean water is a different job from a pipe leak. The IICRC's S500 standard names flooding from seawater as an example of Category 3, or grossly contaminated, water, and that kind of water gets cleaned up before restorative drying.

Ida and the inland floods

Ida, on September 1, 2021, was a rain storm, and Staten Island took a lot of it. The National Weather Service listed the island's 9.64 inches among Ida's maximum storm totals. The city's Ida plan says more than nine inches fell in under 12 hours, much of it in a three-hour stretch. Staten Island had 12.7% of the buildings Ida damaged in New York City.

Part of the island drains the natural way. DEP's Staten Island Bluebelt uses streams, ponds and wetlands to drain 15 watersheds at the southern end of the island, plus the Richmond Creek watershed, about 10,000 acres in all. The wetlands store stormwater for a while, which DEP says protects nearby and downstream properties from flooding. In December 2025, DEP reported finishing a $110 million expansion of the New Creek Bluebelt for Mid-Island communities and an $84 million project that put new storm sewers and catch basins into New Dorp Beach.

Sewer backups are a separate problem, and they come up through basement drains. Report one to 311: DEP says it will inspect within six hours, though heavy rain or snowmelt can delay that, and the owner is responsible for the service line from the house to the main.

Detached houses, basements and crawl spaces

A detached house gives water more ways in and more places to hide.

• Basements. Flood water and sewer backups pool at the lowest point. Many basements also hold the boiler, the water heater and the electrical panel, so stay out of standing water until the power is safe.
• Crawl spaces. Water under the floor soaks insulation and framing where nobody looks, and it is often the last part of the house to dry.
• Sump pumps. A pump that fails during a storm can flood a basement that stayed dry for years.

The deadline is the same in all three: in most cases, the EPA says, mold won't grow if wet or damp items are dry within 24 to 48 hours. Its other rule matters after a flood: no fans until you have determined the water is clean or sanitary.

Read your policy for the sump pump case before you need it. The state Department of Financial Services describes a water backup endorsement, available from some insurers at extra cost, that extends coverage to sewer backups and failed sump pumps. It also flags a gap: if a flood knocks out the pump, the flood policy probably won't pay for the backup, and a homeowners policy excludes the flood itself.

How GlobePro Restoration handles a Staten Island water job

On a Staten Island house, GlobePro Restoration looks for every place the water got in, crawl space included, and dries each area out. The repairs start once everything is dry. We work with your insurance company to keep the process as smooth as it can be.

For a flooded basement, a wet crawl space or a burst pipe anywhere on the island, call for 24/7 water damage restoration on Staten Island. Basement flooding looks much the same in Queens, which had more Ida-damaged buildings than any other borough; our Queens water damage guide covers sewer water and backwater valves in detail, and the Brooklyn flood cleanup guide explains why surge and sewer water are cleaned differently from a pipe leak.

Staten Island neighborhoods and ZIP codes GlobePro Restoration serves

• Stapleton and St. George: 10301, 10304, 10305
• Port Richmond: 10302, 10303, 10310
• Mid-Island: 10314
• South Shore: 10306, 10307, 10308, 10309, 10312

Our base is in Brooklyn, just across the Verrazzano, and we cover the rest of New York City and its surrounding areas too.

Frequently asked questions

Does homeowners insurance cover a sump pump failure?

Only with the right coverage. DFS says some insurers sell a water backup endorsement for sewer backups and sump pump failures. Ask your insurer whether your policy has it.

My house is mid-island, far from the beach. Can it still flood?

Yes. Ida's flooding was from rain, not surge, and the island got 9.64 inches. Basements anywhere can take water from overwhelmed drains and sewers.

Is all storm water Category 3?

No. Seawater flooding is one of the S500 examples of Category 3, but a March 2026 IICRC position statement says weather-related water doesn't land in that category automatically. The category comes from inspecting the water and finding out what it contains.

What does water damage restoration cost on Staten Island?

Each job gets its own quote; GlobePro Restoration doesn't work from a price list. Start by calling or sending a request with what got wet.

Water in your Staten Island home right now?

(929) 969-2534 is answered around the clock, weekends included. Prefer to write? Send a request, or look over our other services.