by Mike Schnitzel
"I had a foot of water in my basement," said East Rockaway Music store owner Paul Lanzetta. His shop suffered water damage and lost valuable merchandise due to heavy flooding. "I had it pumped out," he said, "but [as of Monday night] it's still coming back in."
According to Lanzetta, who is also the president of the East Rockaway Chamber of Commerce, in addition to the loss of amplifiers, guitars and other instruments, many vintage vinyl albums were soaked. "I would have to guess that I've lost $5,000 easily right now, but I won't know [the full extent of the damage] until I start digging," said Lanzetta.
While flooding on Long Island was sporadic, according to police, Lynbrook and East Rockaway were both hit hard. The National Weather Service reported that as of the end of the storms last Saturday, Lynbrook received the most rain in Nassau County, a total of 14.82 inches.
"It started with a little drip on Thursday during the day," said Kevin Lehner, who owns the Planet Beach tanning salon on Atlantic Avenue in Lynbrook. "Then I came in early on Friday and found that I had lost three [ceiling] tiles, and then two more came down."
According to Lehner, who had to close his business on Friday because of the problems the rain caused, he ended up with about an inch of water on the floor in the bathroom of his store and will have to rip out the carpeting due to water damage.
"With the estimate the contractor is throwing at me and the products that I've lost, this is going to cost me about $5,000 to $6,000," said Lehner.
Harry Levitt, who owns Murlee's men's wear shop on Atlantic Avenue in Lynbrook, fared slightly better. "I had no damage to my merchandise," said Levitt. "There was constant rain in my store during the last week, and we had a considerable amount of water, but we've done all right."
Two other East Rockaway businesses, La Favorita delicatessen and tailor Charles Sanzone, both suffered heavy damage from the flooding at their Main Street locations. "We've been pumping out for five days now, and we've suffered thousands of dollars in damage," said Mike Ragib, who owns La Favorita. "Hopefully this will be over soon."
According to Sanzone, he suffered only personal losses, and none of his business materials were damaged. "I'll be pumping out until the water table goes down," he said, "but we came through OK."
Comments about this story? MSchnitzel@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 265.
