East Coast Restaurants Hit Hard by Hurricane Irene
By: Anthony Adragna
Published: September 1, 2011

Hurricane Irene struck the East Coast with a fury and caused billions of dollars in damage. Many now believe it will be one of the 10 costliest United States disasters in history. The restaurant industry was also deeply affected by the storm. 
Nick Kouvel works as chef and general manager at Sallee Tee's Grille in Monmouth Beach, New Jersey. His restaurant was completely devastated in the storm. "It's a disaster in here," he told NPR. "As you can hear, in the background, I have people ripping carpets up right now. We're trying to get items cleaned. And everything's a loss, in terms of food."
As can be seen in the picture above, Vermont's Long Trail Brewery was surrounded by water in the aftermath of the storm. The state's breweries were hit hard. Long Trail, thankfully, weathered the storm and sustained minor damage. The Alchemist, a small brewery and pub, was completely devastated in hard-hit Waterbury.  
In Rhode Island, many restaurants had to throw out large quantities of food because of safety concerns. "The situation is basically, we completely shut down. You've got to completely start up again, because everything you had on hand is useless to you," said restaurant owner Steve Dion of S.S. Dion."We're talking about 80 percent of our food. At least 80 percent."
As the cleanup continues, we wish these local businesses the best. You're in our thoughts.