Small businesses in Queens deal with new hurdles
following extensive damage from Hurricane Ida
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
Small business owners in
Queens either spent Wednesday
night, Sept. 1, navigating rapidly
flooding basements or woke
up Thursday morning, Sept. 2,
to calls of devastating damage
to their shops, as remnants of
Hurricane Ida brought unprecedented
and deadly rainfall to
New York City.
The storm — which brought
a record-setting 7.13 inches
of rain in the city on Wednesday,
according to the National
Weather Service — left at least
10 people dead in Queens, nine
of whom were stranded in basements,
according to authorities.
While streets and subways
flooded, businesses and their
owners also suffered the brunt
of the damage.
Lois Christie, owner of
Christie & Co. Salon in Bay Terrace,
said she woke up at 5:30
a.m. on Thursday to calls from
the cleaning crew, alerting her
that her marble-floored salon
was flooded and covered in
mud.
Christie said that while
there were loose cars floating
along the large Bay Terrace
Shopping Center’s parking lot,
she was disheartened by what
she said was a lack of communication
and assistance from her
landlord.
“We’ve never had a flood, not
this kind, in years,” Christie
said. “I haven’t seen one police
officer or anybody else come. It’s
disgraceful.”
Christie acted fast to cancel
hundreds of appointments as
they cleaned the large space
equipped with hair, nail and spa
services, but managed to open
by noon with services cut at 30
percent. Their computers and
phone lines were down until the
early afternoon.
Christie said it’ll take several
hundreds of thousands of dollars
to fully fix the space, but it
will take several days to assess
the full scope of the damage, she
said.
“To walk in and see this is
heartbreaking. We’re all still
trying to regroup from COVID
and now this,” Christie said.
“The impact of this to small
businesses is going to be catastrophic
and expensive.”
Queens Chamber of Commerce
President Tom Grech
said Queens businesses “need
our help and support” after
more than a year of the COVID
19 pandemic. He encouraged
business owners to report storm
damages using the Damage Assessment
Tool provided by NYC
Emergency Management.
“We appreciate the efforts
of our elected officials, including
Governor Hochul, Mayor
de Blasio, Borough President
Richards, Congress member
Meeks and the team at New
York City’s Department of
Small Business Services, who
immediately sprang into action
to help families, communities
and businesses in Queens and
throughout New York recover,”
Grech said. “We encourage all
Queens-based businesses with
questions or concerns to reach
out to the chamber. We are here
to assist you.”
Residents and business owners
reported major flooding and
cars left stranded on the highway
in northeastern Queens,
as well as the western end of the
borough.
In Ridgewood, the roof of
a cleaners business collapsed
Wednesday night, but no one
was injured, according to reports.
Just a street away on Myrtle
Avenue, chef Kevin Lenis, owner
of Cantina 33, was thankful
that his fairly new restaurant
fared just fine, as did his nearby
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.2 COM | SEPT. 10 - SEPT. 16, 2021
neighbors.
“We didn’t get any flooding
at all,” Lenis said.
The same couldn’t be said
in Sunnyside, where dozens of
businesses reported basement
flooding and other damages.
Jamie-Faye Bean, executive
director of Sunnyside
Shines BID, said she heard
from multiple business owners
from Skillman Avenue to 48th
Avenue who’ve sustained serious
damage after the storm,
particularly involving sewer
backup.
“It’s a long, systemic issue in
the neighborhood,” said Bean,
who’s advising businesses on
how to file insurance claims
and conduct proper cleanups.
Bean added that some business
owners say they haven’t
seen damage on this scale for
years.
“Some merchants have said
this is worse than Sandy, in
terms of western Queens,” Bean
said.
Cynthia Iglesias, who owns
La Adelita on Roosevelt Avenue
in Woodside with her mother,
Maria, was still trying to mitigate
the devastating disruption
the storm caused as of Thursday
afternoon.
Their restaurant’s basement
flooded with sewer water
Wednesday night as the storm
raged on outside.
“I was upstairs. I knew it
was running outside, but this
is something that typically
doesn’t happen in New York,”
Iglesias said. “I don’t think I
was prepared enough, but I’m
subscribed to organizations to
know what’s going on with mandates
and guidelines.”
Iglesias had to be on Face-
Time with a plumber who
couldn’t get to them due to the
weather, in order to try to fix
the issue. The water seeped into
their large cooler and the food
inside, which they later had to
throw away.
She also “risked her life” trying
to disconnect appliances in
the submerged basement, so as
to not cause a fire.
“It was a really long night,”
said Iglesias, whose basement
apartment nearby also flooded.
She’d been in the restaurant all
night and day.
The New York City Department
of Buildings sent out an
advisory Thursday, warning
building owners that heavy
flooding conditions have the
potential to cause structural
damage, hazardous mold and
deterioration of building electrical
and gas plumbing systems.
These conditions can pose a
serious hazard to New Yorkers
entering flood-damaged buildings.
All New Yorkers are encouraged
to call 311 to report any
unsafe building conditions in
their neighborhood, and 911 for
emergencies.
For Iglesias, the recent damage
is just another blow in an already
difficult year. In January,
she had to close another restaurant
in Long Island City, Corazon
de Mexico, as the landlord
refused to re-negotiate a $20,000
lease.
That debt along with recent
pandemic-related violations
from the health department,
coupled with close to no aid
from the federal government’s
programs, leaves Iglesias feeling
less and less motivated to be
in the hospitality industry, she
said. “We’ve been struck down
in so many ways, me and my
mom,” Iglesias said. “Food has
increased 200%, and expenses
don’t end. But my mom says to
stay positive.”
In Astoria, Beatrice Ajaero
is also remaining positive, as
she assesses the damage to her
two businesses: Nneji, a restaurant
on 34th Avenue, and Ibari,
a shop on 23rd Avenue.
Ajaero said that while Nneji
“weathered the storm,” the
same couldn’t be said of Ibari.
Ibari, located on the ground
floor of a 100-year-old building,
is a quaint shop with a basement
for storage. Ajaero, who
lives on Roosevelt Island, found
the basement submerged in 7
inches of water on Thursday
morning.
“The property owner
said there had only been three
floods, two of them this year,”
said Ajaero, clarifying that one
of those floods came as a result
of Hurricane Henri nearly two
weeks ago. “It was more severe
this time.”
Ajaero said it would have
been beneficial for her and other
business owners to have a more
clear message about the kind
of damage that a storm like Ida
could bring, in order to prepare.
“August to September is always
a critical time. The last
thing you want is some sort of
weather problem,” Ajaero said.
“If I could have wished this one
away, I would have. We didn’t
need another hurdle.”
Ajaero, who also said it will
take time to assess all the damage,
said her commercial and
residential neighbors continue
to lend each other a helping
hand where possible.
Christie and Co. Salon, located at 2364 Bell Blvd., was flooded with stormwater following remnants of
Hurricane Ida. Photo courtesy of Lois Christie
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