(Left to right) Inside the Route 67 Diner, the exterior of Klarides Village, and another shot inside the diner.
SEYMOUR – Before Mike Abe, the owner of Route 67 Diner in Klarides Village, walked into his restaurant Monday morning (Aug. 19) to assess the damage caused by Sunday’s raging flood waters, he was warned by police and fire officials at the front door about what he was about to see.
“All I could see was chairs and tables in the parking lot, forks and knives scattered everywhere, equipment from the kitchen turned upside down and that was before I even got inside the door,” Abe said.
The damage inside was worse. Tables were pushed through a wall. A large cooler was missing.
“Everything was just gone. Nothing is there,” he said.
Sunday’s freakish, once-in-a-lifetime storm took the lives of two Oxford residents and caused major damage to three major state roads along with dozens of local roads. The Klarides Village shopping center in Seymour was hit particularly hard.
Abe opened Route 67 Diner in 2014. Abe, the father of three sons, referred to the diner as “my fourth boy,” and the employees as his second family.
He said he can’t even begin to estimate the monetary loss. He does not have insurance because the property has no history of flooding.
“I never thought I needed flood insurance and when I opened and got insurance, nobody from the company requested that I get flood insurance,” Abe said. “I never thought we’d end up in a river.”
Fellow business owner Atilio Marini owns the Cast Iron Chef Pizza restaurant in the same Klarides Village plaza, but a little further up on higher ground from Route 67 Diner. Marini didn’t experience the devastating loss Abe did, but nonetheless incurred some water damage in his basement, where food and liquor are stored.
“We were open Sunday and told to evacuate around 5 p.m.,” Marini said. “The area outside in back of the restaurant, where we’re about 15 to 20 feet away from the (Little) River, was starting to flood, but the last few customers and all our employees got out safely.”
At that point, Marini said the main parking lot, which also houses an Ocean State Job Lot, was not flooded.
When he returned to the restaurant Monday morning (Aug. 19) Marini said he found some 10 – 12 inches of water in the basement.
“We just had some water damage in the basement and our main (dining and bar) area was not affected, and there was not an ounce of water,” Marini said. “But in the basement, where we have a lot of refrigeration equipment, for all our food supplies, that was lost and we had to throw everything out.”
Marini estimated he lost between $5,000 and $6,000 in food and liquor.
Marini, like Abe, also does not have flood insurance. His thoughts were with businesses that sustained more damage than his.
“I hope that when all these places are able to open up again, that people go and support these businesses who took such a beating,” Marini said. “I’ve never seen anything like this, and it’s something like you see only in the movies.”
Allen’s Plumbing Supply On Route 67
Melissa Allen, director of operations for the family-owned Allen’s Plumbing Supply, at 145 Bank St., said the store bore the brunt of the water rushing in from the nearby Little River.
Several propane tanks got loose and were carried away by the rushing water. She said the tanks were empty.
The store isn’t open on Sundays, but word of the flood got her attention.
“Around 3:30 p.m., 4 p.m. everything was running normal, but around 5:30 p.m. one of our employees who lives nearby was able to get to the store to see what was happening,” Allen said.
Allen said the parking lot was overrun with water which soon made its way inside the 50-year-old building.
“Water started gushing in from the river, right in front of our building, and around 6 p.m. we had two to four feet of water in our parking lot,” she said.
Allen’s provides a popular propane tank service where people can go have them filled outside in a fenced-in area in the parking lot.
Allen said while the store was open for business Monday (Aug. 19), it did sustain significant damage.
“I grew up here and we’ve been in business just over 50 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said.
Seymour Town Officials Summarize Damage
Seymour First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis and Seymour Police Chief John Bucherati said Monday (Aug. 19) that Klarides Village shopping plaza was the hardest hit in town.
According to Bucherati, several roads in town remained closed due Monday because of debris blocking parts of the road, including Route 67 (also known as New Haven Road) from Bank Street near the entrance of the Seymour Police station and Stop & Shop on Franklin Street all the way up to West Street, near the CVS plaza, which is just across the street from the Little River. River Street was also closed and blocked by some debris, according to Bucherati. Old Drive and Rimmon Hill were closed Monday, too.
An employee of the Woodland Package store, located in the lower portion of Klarides Village, got trapped inside his car outside the store in the parking lot Sunday, and the water was so high he couldn’t escape the vehicle, according to Drugonis. The fire department was able to safely rescue the man from the car.
Bucherati said on Sunday and Monday there were several gas leaks at Klarides Village caused by the rushing water. Eversource made repairs.
Residents living behind the plaza on West Street were moved to the town’s emergency shelter, Seymour Middle School, until the leaks were repaired. The Valley Indy stopped by the shelter Monday morning but no one would talk to a reporter.
Drugonis has been updating residents via Facebook and Code Red emergency calls throughout the night and morning and urged residents to stay away from closed roads.
“My job is to make sure all my residents and businesses are safe and get them the federal and state help they need,” she said. “Please cooperate with us. Do not go through road closures or try to go around them.”
