Community Rises in Wake of Downtown Lynn Flooding

October 3 , 2017 (published by the Lynn Item)

ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Eric Ciccone looks at all the merchandise that was ruined just in Bene Hardware & Commercial supply alone when Munroe St. Was hit with a flash flood on Saturday.

By BRIDGET TURCOTTE

LYNN — Out of destruction came something good as business owners and residents on Munroe Street cleaned up the aftermath of flash flooding on Saturday that hit the city particularly hard.

“We’ve got some good neighbors,” said Eric Ciccone, co-owner of Beden Hardware & Commercial supply, which has been at 95 Munroe St. for more than 50 years. “Plasti-graphics on Central Street offered us their warehouse which was very generous. Fernando, who used to own a business down here, came by to help.”

A combination of high tide and flash flooding left parked cars floating on the stretch of road that connects Washington and Market streets and more than 800 property owners without power on Saturday morning. Ground-floor businesses took in varying levels of water, ranging from just a few inches to several feet.

The hardware store is covering the cost of a dumpster to fill with floor tiles, damaged goods, and trash from the store and is sharing it with neighboring Complete Labor and Staffing in exchange for cleanup help from the laborers, Ciccone said. Read Full Article…