Lewis County businesses look for help in covering losses

LOWVILLE, New York (WWNY) – Lewis County meets with the state and federal officials to describe the damage from last week’s floods. Damage to bridges, culverts and roads. But what about help for private businesses?

“We’re waiting to hear back from the insurance company a little bit more, we’ve spoken to the adjustor, at this point it looks like there is no insurance coverage,” said Jennifer Metzler, Jeb’s Restaurant co-owner.

Not many people in Lowville had flood insurance. The type of insurance needed to protect property from high water.

At Jeb’s Restaurant, losses will add up to thousands and thousands of dollars. The owners hope help could come from the federal government if the floods are declared a federal disaster.

“We are hoping they come through, otherwise, it is loans that will put us back years – years of profit,” said Metzler.

At Mike’s Appliances, no insurance coverage either.

“Being that it is a flooding, us and Jeb’s, and homeowners and other businesses out there, we are not covered. This being that even if we had a flood insurance, they say it starts at your first floor, not anything underneath, not anything underground,” said John Purvines, Mike’s Appliances

If your home or business was affected by the storm, county manager Ryan Piche says to fill out a Damage Self Reporting tool. The state will collect data on how much damage and also collect data for potential requests for federal aid.

“There are no guarantees that there will be any federal assistance for private property, but we don’t know at least if we try to track down all the damage that there is,” said Piche.

Naturally Lewis hopes to help. Collecting donations so businesses can get back on their feet.

“We thought very quickly, and said yes this is something that we should do, let’s create a donation portal through Naturally Lewis, which means 100% of the proceeds will go back to the businesses,” said Brittany Davis, Naturally Lewis executive director.

Meanwhile, Piche says the state labor department will be at the county’s human services building Tuesday to help people file for unemployment if they lost their jobs because of the flood.

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