Less than two weeks after Tropical Storm Irene sent the Saw Mill River surging into Elmsford, business owners there were cleaning up damage from yet another flood that turned streets in the village”™s industrial corridor near the river into boating waterways.
Some said it”™s time for public officials to stop studying damaging floods that have become more frequent and severe and take active measures to control them.
“It slows everything down to a crawl,” Robert Malinari, owner of Patsy Iron Works Inc., a structural steel and ornamental design company, said of the September flood that filled the streets surrounding his business at 123 Nepperhan Ave. Though floodwater did not reach the five-foot depths he saw there in the wake of Irene, “It”™s still debilitating,” he said.
Malinari said his six-employee business lost four days of work after Irene”™s passage through the area. “Everything gets backed up,” he said.
Lacking flood insurance, the ironworks owner said he plans to apply for a low-interest loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the only form of federal aid available to damaged businesses through the Federal Emergency Management Agency”™s disaster recovery program in the county. The loans, also offered to nonprofits and individuals, are for the repair or replacement of real estate or personal property damaged by the storm and related flooding.
No Westchester figures were available from the SBA on the number of businesses that have applied for the disaster relief loan. Following the April 2007 flood disaster here, the SBA approved $10.6 million in loans for Westchester businesses.
“We used to get flooded once a year or every other year,” said Malinari. “This year it”™s six times already.”
Malinari, though, said rising waters will not uproot his business. “I like the location,” he said. “I just wish they”™d do something with the water” spilling from the nearby Saw Mill.
Kris Lucas, president and owner of Elmsford Winnelson Co., a plumbing and heating supply franchise at 48 Hayes St., said his flood losses in the Irene storm were “considerable.” The second storm this month flooded the street outside his business, cutting off access to the six-employee company”™s supply yard and loading docks. The company lost two delivery trucks in a March flood.
“We do have flood insurance,” Lucas said. “But at this point we”™re not sure if the insurance company is going to pick up the policy again.”
“A few businesses, they”™re going to leave” Elmsford because of the repeated flooding, Lucas said. “You”™re going to lose tax base for the businesses that are here.” For those who relocate, “Their landlords are going to lose tenants ”“ and nobody”™s going to rent here.” Those commercial owners will seek lowered tax assessments on their vacant and underused properties, further eroding the local tax base, he said.
“If my corporate office tells me you”™re moving out of this location, I”™ll be moving out of this location,” the franchise owner said.
“You get tired of the lip service” from public officials, said Lucas. “You don”™t need to do a study” of the long-standing flood problem. “Stop studying. This is ridiculous.”
Town of Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner said owners of both flood-prone businesses and homes could be eligible for flood-mitigating property improvements and buyouts financed by federal grants if FEMA approves the town”™s recently adopted all-hazards mitigation plan. He said the town spent about $250,000 to prepare the plan, which will be required of all local and state governments to remain eligible for federal disaster assistance and grants.
