SEYMOUR, Connecticut — In the aftermath of catastrophic flooding, there have been countless stories of survival and strength from Connecticut residents.
On Wednesday, the small business owners who make the state run spoke on how they've been impacted.
Klarides Village is the economic engine of Seymour. There’s 16 businesses in the shopping plaza, and 14 of them were destroyed. Most of them are family-owned. In fact, the plaza itself is family-owned.
“My dad and my uncle built this plaza. Our tenants are our family,” said plaza owner Themis Klarides.
Those tenants are now in tears.
“This is my life,” remarked Qunden Patel as she choked back tears; she is the owner of Woodland Wine & Spirits.
The Patel family has owned Woodland Wine & Spirits for 20 years. On this day, they were donning hazmat suits to gut the shop that took $500,000 in damage.
“In a matter of a couple of hours on Sunday, it’s just all gone,” said Jay Patel.
Jay is Qunden’s son. He’s been helping his parents clean up. He’s departing on Thursday for what’s supposed to be a happy day.
“I’m going off to college tomorrow. It’s bad timing. I won’t even be here to help,” said Jay.
A few storefronts down from Woodland Wine & Spirits, Mike Abe was wading through the mud and muck that covers every surface of his diner. But it doesn’t cover up his fighting spirit.
“I’m coming back. I’m coming back better and stronger. We will do this,” said Abe, the owner of the Route 67 Family Diner.
He is vowing to rebuild with no help from insurance.
“The insurance company told all of us, 'No, thank you.' They don’t want to even hear us,” explained Abe.
The root of the devastating flooding in Seymour was Little River. It’s a small brook that’s usually a foot deep and 10 feet wide. On Sunday, it reached 20 feet deep and 40 feet wide.
Many hands made Wednesday’s work a little easier at Klarides Village. That work that will continue for months. Neighbors helping neighbors, businesses helping businesses.
“Were bringing lunch here for the next couple of days for them. As a business owner as well it just hits home because what if it happened to you,” said Dina Chatzopoulos Bajko, the owner of Chips Restaurants.
A community coming together maintains hope in the darkest of days. That is what is putting a smile on my face today. I lost everything. I lost everything. But what I see now, it’s amazing,” added Abe.
The owner of the plaza said that once all the damaged inventory is thrown away, an industrial cleaning company will be brought in. The insides of the stores will need to be gutted, but the structure of the building remains sound.
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Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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