Bronxville residents, business owners not deterred by storm that caused a lot of damage
BRONXVILLE, N.Y. -- The village of Bronxville is among the Westchester County communities hardest hit by Friday's storm, and now it's time for the lengthy clean-up.
CBS New York heard from residents and business owners on Saturday.
Water may have been pumped out and the storm may have passed, but the clean-up is far from over on Parkway Road.
"Just trying to get everything together, throw everything out," resident Bobby O'Brien said.
That includes O'Brien's appliances. He said he came home to his refrigerator floating in his garage. He said he learned not to keep valuables in his garage after the remnants of Hurricane Ida, but after this storm he "pretty much" not keeping anything in there now.
The neighborhood sits right up against the Bronx River, so flooding is inevitable. Thankfully, the homeowners that spoke to CBS New York with have flood insurance. However, they were only able to do so much to prepare.
"The flood insurance is not cheap, but it's worth the money because when you have a flood like this, it runs into big bucks," James Serra said.
Serra said he lost several appliances when floodwaters reached the basement ceiling of the home he's renting out.
"There's nothing you can do, unless you have a big umbrella. There's only so much water you can ... you can't fight it," Serra said.
READ MORE: Flooding leads to quite a mess for home and business owners in Mamaroneck
There was little some nearby Yonkers businesses could do when a landslide came down Friday on cars in the Frank Pepe Pizzeria parking lot. Miraculously, no one was hurt.
"The mudslide came down here, picked up the employees' cars, moved them across the parking lot, and damaged them. Of course, the street is where we had accessibility issues. People couldn't come in," said Sean Barry, the pizzeria's director of operations.
Bronxville police reported at least 100 cars were destroyed in Friday's floods, including at least 60 in the Paxton Avenue parking lot that were submerged in floodwater.
Part of the Bronx River Parkway was closed both ways Saturday as trucks were still cleaning out the mud left behind. As for residents like Serra, though, they said the severe weather won't drive them out of the neighborhood they call home.
"Nope, doesn't change (anything)," Serra said.
"Everybody's safe. That's all that matters," O'Brien added.
