Heights storm drain maintenance

I live close to a corner (8th and Cortlandt) that is notorious for flooding and swallowing cars. In the 10 years I’ve lived here, I’ve seen at least a dozen vehicles flooded, including a full sized fire truck.

Anyway, this past week there were workers out doing what appeared to be storm drain maintenance. Never seen that before. Does anyone know what the deal is?

Coincidentally, we’ve had heavy rains this morning and the intersection is completely clear of water. Hard to gauge rates and saturation by eye, but it seems like more than it normally takes to cause serious flooding.