Repair Costs Send BK Businesses 'Over The Edge' After Floods

BROOKLYN, NY — Things were starting to look up for Edgina Desormeau after the pandemic took a significant toll on Bonbon Lakay — then the floods hit.

The rain cleared, and the Park Slope bakery owner was left with broken appliances, boxes of soaked napkins and cups and thousands of dollars worth of repairs ahead.

"We lost quite a lot, unfortunately," Desormeau said. "We're doing our best."

Desormeau is one of many businesses now turning to their Brooklyn neighbors to help recover from last week's flood damage. She started a GoFundMe which had raised over $3,700 as of Thursday.

On Friday, inches of rain covered Brooklyn, creating floods over two feet deep, bringing entire subway lines to a screeching halt and shuttering a hospital.

Over 130 Brooklyn businesses reported flood damage at their stores, over 30 of which sit in Park Slope, local business authorities told Brooklyn Paper.

A number of GoFundMe campaigns detail damages like destroyed appliances and lost inventory at Park Slope's Whisk & Whiskey, Brooklyn Navy Yard's Head Hi coffeeshop and art studios in Gowanus.

"To be completely honest, the events of last week have been incredibly challenging," said Whisk & Whiskey owners on the GoFundMe, which had raised over $10,000 by Thursday. "This recent flood has forced us to close our doors, affecting the income and livelihood of all our staff."

Like her neighbors at Whisk & Whiskey, Desormeau said she had even made significant efforts to protect her space from floods — especially in the wake of Hurricane Ida — but to no avail.

"It seems we couldn't prevent last week's events from pushing us over the edge," Whisk & Whiskey owners said.

Arts Gowanus said they made similar efforts to prepare for another natural disaster.

"Many of the Arts Gowanus artists were just recovering from the devastation caused by Hurricane Ida just two years ago," agreed organizers of a GoFundMe for Arts Gowanus, which had raised over $11,ooo by Thursday.

"Sadly, original artwork can never be replaced."

And in a time when small businesses are already buried in debt from the pandemic, the floods are just another in a long list of challenges.

For Desormeau, the flood piled onto years of difficulty. She opened her physical store in the summer of 2021 — when she thought COVID may have already done its worst damage, she said.

Then another wave nearly took her business out.

"It's felt impossible to just catch up," Desormeau said. "It's been a slippery slope since then."

Despite the financial strain, Bonbon Lakay has become a haven for Haitian, LGBTQ folks and women of color to feel safe to take up space, she said.

And she's found ways creative to feed her unhoused neighbors without losing money, she said.

"It's really become this indescribable space that feels like home," she said. "I want to keep it going for them."