Van Brunt businesses take a big Sandy hit by George Fiala
A
fter a day of shock and commiseration, the business people of Red Hook got down to real recovery work on Wednesday, October 31. The streets were full of garbage bags. The sound of gas generators spraying water out of basement pumps was everywhere. Friends of Firefighters’ Nancy Carbone points out her damaged industrial refrigerator in the darknews.
Uhuru owner Jason Horvath in his damaged showroom
The Hamilton Avenue Chase Bank opened Wednesday for the first time that week. Around noon, there were very few customers. One of them was the owner of a Red Hook graphic design firm that lost all their equipment and most of their files. She told the bank manager that she couldn’t go through all of this again, and was looking to move her business out of Red Hook - away from the water. This was not what we heard from most of the other places we visited. Another customer was Brooklyn Crab owner, John Czar. He reported little damage or loss from the storm. They were spending their off time helping out neighbors, including Perch and Steve’s Key Lime Pie. They were helping Amy from Perch save as much merchandise as possible. Czar said he thought many of her ceramic sculptures could be saved. They were all picked up by the floodwaters and found floating around the shop. Walking up Van Brunt from Hamilton, we encountered furniture makers, Uhuru. Owner, Jason Horvath reported that the second floor space - where most of the manufacturing is done suffered no damage. However, the first floor was host to over four feet of water during the relatively short time of high tide.
Trying to save Uhuru’s wood.
Stumptown had to do a total cleaning.
The remnants of household goods and business merchandise were all over.
Page 8 Red Hook Star-Revue
Their first floor space is divided into a showroom and a storage room for the unique woods that they use to produce their custom tables. In the storage room, a crew of men were working to stabilize the large slabs used to make tabletops. Horvath did not know whether the efforts to save the wood will be successful. Jason was curious about how FEMA worked, and was anxious for more information. Finished pieces in the showroom were awaiting shipment to customers. Many had been damaged by the water. Jason reported that a 5,000 pound slab of wood floated to the other side of the room. The caustic seawater is dangerous to wood furniture. Another potential problem here is mold. Uhuru was not entirely prepared because no one could believe how high the waterline rose. “Nobody had any idea this was coming. No one expected this,” he said. Coach Bus Repair, the looming space next door, experienced a flood high enough to cover the bus engines that were in their shop waiting to be repaired. Sean, one of their mechanics, said they were not worried. “Fixing buses is what we do!” In addition to the buses, they suffered damage to their
lifts and power tools. The enormous shop was buzzing with activity as everyone showed up for work - despite the subway shutdown. They were busy getting everything back in order, including liberal use of the power-vacuum to suck up all the remaining water. “The waters were everywhere,” said Sean. Jim Totten is a cabinet and furniture maker, who rents space in the historic Van Brunt Street firehouse. He has spent the past three months carefully building cabinets for a new Stumptown coffee outlet that will be opening in the Village. On Friday he boarded up all the windows. Sunday morning he came back to further prepare. Hearing the predictions of the storm surge, he returned on a whim Sunday night to place his current project on a high table. The last minute action was his saving grace, because the cabinets survived unscathed. The water spoiled about $4,000 worth of plywood, some large machinery tools and everything else in the shop that was stored below the four foot water line. A small outside alcove in the back, which was a repository for all sorts of wood and metal building materials, was “once a storage area, now a disaster area.” Next door, red headed Nancy Carbone, Founder and Executive Director of the Friends of Firefighters, explained their biggest loss - the expensive industrial kitchen in the back of the first floor. The water went up past sink level, ruining a large refrigeration unit and gas range. “This is a problem because we use it a lot.” The oversize refrigerator was brand new. They also lost historic books and magazines, as well as boxes of T shirts. But, she said with a big smile, “It’ll take a lot more than this to push me out.” Across the street, Sergi’s Images was a scene of devastation. Water flooded the entire 6,000 foot warehouse. Much of the space was a complete loss. By October 31, they had already taken down all the walls in the front and were putting up new ones. The fetid water compromised the sheet rock. They lost expensive polishing machines, etchers and supplies. The foreman, Ubaldo, pointed to damaged hi-lo’s, dumpsters full of destroyed equipment and broken glass doors that were being made for clients, like Chase Bank. Worst of all, the motors of their three specialized trucks designed to carry the the glass were damaged beyond repair. In front, towering mounds of fresh garbage awaited pick up by the Department of Sanitation. At the Pioneer Supermarket, owner Carmen pointed to the water mark that was two shelves high. All of the merchandise below was ruined. Friends were walking around with garbage bags collecting the spoiled goods to add to the garbage mountains all over the sidewalks. “I spoke to my insurance agent, and he already told me that what they couldn’t pay for, I should ask FEMA about. You see - the insurance compa-
www.RedHookStar.com
Jim Totten points to the water line outside of his Van Brunt shop.
Totten and partner with one of the cabinets they were able to save.
Sergi’s, a Van Brunt manufacturer, took huge losses of equipment.
Sergi’s foreman shows how high the water reached.
The shop was almost a total loss. The flood caused almost $2 million worth of damage.
Through December 1, 2012