Irene's Wrath Forces Business to Invest in Generators

Ben Schor manned a at his store while the power was out throughout the town following hurricane turned tropical storm Irene. While his effort was commendable, most of the products at Main Street Meats spoiled. 

"It was a mess, it was horrific," Schor said of the experience. "The experience was detrimental to my insurance. My insurance company dropped me after putting in a claim for it."

Schor said while the truck and four generators helped save some of the product, there was still roughly $25,000 in product that spoiled.

With the experience of losing product due to power outages caused by a storm behind him, Schor said he is currently in the process of purchasing a generator system for the store. The system, according to Schor, would not be able to keep everything fresh but would secure a majority of his product and be more efficient than the system he used during Irene.

"I can't afford to lose everything anymore," he said.

Although the power was out throughout the town the store was still able to serve customers cooked food for whoever walked through the door. The initial reaction from the staff was positive, being the local business people could rely on for groceries and cooked meals.

“People were coming in for bare necessities for the most part, people were getting non–perishables … we’d see the same people three times a day,” said former member of the Main Street Meats staff Clay Ortner following the storm last year.

While being a go-to source for food was initially a success, with employees stating business increased during and following Irene, one year later Schor has mixed feelings about the experience.

"It was a good experience I guess, but it's hard to say," he said. "A lot of people didn't know that I was able to operate with generators."

Schor considers the experince with Irene a tough lesson learned and said he would be absolutely prepared of this were to happen again.