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Business & Tech

Local Businesses Speak Out After Sandy's Impact

Several businesses south of Merrick Road suffered great loss from the storm.

In the month since Superstorm Sandy swept through Long Island, many businesses in southern areas of Wantagh and Seaford have been impacted. 

Mary Sang, manager at Jackson Road House, said the Seaford Harbor establishment on 3595 Bayview St. reopened the same week Sandy hit, but its sister restaurants, Catfish Max and Crabby Amy's weren't nearly as lucky.

"We were able to salvage this one in four days, but our other two restaurants in the harbor are gone for good," said Sang, a Levittown resident. "We had a lot to clean up. We lost all of our equipment and we were running on a generator up until last weekend, spending thousands on fuel."

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Once the bar and dining room were repaired, Jackson Road House opened right away. According to Sang, the staff wanted to offer a place for local residents to escape the stress of the storm.

"We have a wonderful sense of community here," she explained. "We tried to make a place for people to gather and be together. We were doing free meals every morning and every night for the people in the harbor."

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Sang has been working as a restaurant manager in the harbor for more than two decades and said she could have never expected such devastation.

"I've worked in the harbor for 24 years and never have I seen something like this," Sang said. "The restaurants had an eight-foot surge of water. We could have never expected this in a million years."

Though Jackson Road House is up and running, Sang said it will be a bit more time before the restaurant fully recovers.

"We lost thousands of dollars in food and alcohol that we had to dispose of. We still have no refrigeration behind the bar, so we're waiting for the insurance information to see what settles."

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The White Whale, a staple in southern Seaford, has also reopened for business after devastating damage from Sandy.

"We're one of the only restaurants that have opened back up in the harbor," said owner Henriette Hoppl. "We had about four or five feet of water inside. The floors had to be repaired, everything did really. It was a lot of work."

"We had to do electrical repairs and replace all of our equipment," she added. "It was extremely damaging, something you really cannot fathom."

Hoppl said the restaurant reopened Nov. 13 once power was fully restored and the restaurant was fully restocked.

"We're up and running now," she explained. "We have all fresh food, everything is clean and it looks nice again. We want to get the message out that we're open for business because people are misinformed."

Other local businesses, including Carmine's Pasta & Pizza on Bayview Street and LuLu's on Merrick Road showed extensive damage from the superstorm with no immediate sign of reopening.

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