By Emily Drooby
It was a difficult site to witness inside St. Mary’s Winfield Church in Woodside, Queens. Five feet of water filled doorways that was down from the original seven feet. The pastor, Father Christopher O’Connor, took us on a tour of the damage.
He explained, “Water was just gushing from the outside in, I put a 40-gallon garbage can trying to catch the water but it filled in 30 seconds.”
The street behind the Woodside, Queens church flooded so badly that a car ended up on a fire hydrant.
The water came quickly – so quickly that nothing in the lower church could be saved. That includes their brand-new Adoration Chapel with a one of a kind Tabernacle Monstrance and restored 150-year-old pews.
“A lot of my people were crying this morning,” said Father O’Connor. He added, “It was really a work of art, and it was a beautiful place of prayer, and now it’s underwater.”
Long-time parishioner, Angel Marengo, stopped by the church to help.
“With the help of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, we will overcome this. It’s just a test of how much faith we have,” he said while speaking with Currents News about the damage.
Wednesday’s storm dumped between three and eight inches of rain across Brooklyn and Queens. Clergy and parishioners scrambled to clear it, like at Cathedral Preparatory.
Father James Kuroly, the rector-president said, “I came down here to the back door where there was a massive amount of water coming in through the doors, downstairs, and into the cafeteria.”
The water was since been drained thanks to their dedicated maintenance staff. However, the damage remains; destroyed floors, ceilings and items.
In Bath Beach, Brooklyn, the staff at St. Frances Cabrini church spent their morning clearing their flooded church. While in Williamsburg, the team at Our Lady of Mount Carmel had to drain both the parish hall and their school.