The city received repeated complaints about the basement apartment where an 86-year-old woman drowned amid flash flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida — but didn’t stop anyone from living there, records show.
The Department of Buildings also got a complaint about a business being operated out of another house where a 2-year and his parents died in the basement during Wednesday night’s flooding.
But at both locations, inspectors closed the complaints after they were twice unable to get inside the buildings, according to online DOB records.
In April 2012, a caller told the DOB that the basement at the first house, 55-35 84th St., in Elmhurst, Queens, was illegally occupied.
A second complaint in August 2012 repeated that allegation and also said that food was being sold from the house, the records show.
Both complaints were closed without any enforcement action — as per DOB policy — following two visits by an inspector who was “unable to gain access” either time, the records show.
On Wednesday, the basement turned into a death trap for Yue Lian Chen, 86.
A violation issued Thursday alleges that living space was created in the house’s cellar without permits for plumbing and electrical work.
The only legal use is for “recreation, boiler and storage” space, according to the records.
In a bitterly ironic twist, DOB records also note that the property isn’t located in the city’s “Special Flood Hazard Zone” designated by the Federal Emergency Management Administration.
In September 2005, the DOB also got a complaint about the first floor of the house at 44-60 64th St. in Flushing, Queens, being used for commercial purposes.
That case was also closed when an inspector visited twice and couldn’t get inside.
On Wednesday night, a family of three — 2-year-old Lobsang Lama; mom Mingma Sherpa, 48; and dad Ang Gelu Lama, 50 — died in their basement apartment there.
On Thursday, a DOB inspector found the building was “shaking” and “vibrating” due to flooding damage, and an inspector was unable to enter on Friday because of an NYPD investigation, according to the records.
A total of 13 people died during Wednesday night’s flooding, including 11 who drowned in basement apartments.
Five of the apartments are in Queens and one is in Brooklyn.
In a prepared statement, Buildings Commissioner Melanie La Rocca said, “DOB inspectors have confirmed that five of the six properties where New Yorkers tragically lost their lives during the floods were illegally converted cellar and basement apartments.”
“Our team is tirelessly conducting inspections at over a thousand properties across the five boroughs in the aftermath of Wednesday’s storm, and we’ll continue doing everything we can to keep New Yorkers safe in their residences,” she added.
