Healey, Driscoll tour flooded businesses in North Andover, damage estimated at $20 million
NORTH ANDOVER - Governor Maura Healey and Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll toured a mill building in North Andover that was the site of severe flooding.
The building on High Street houses dozens of businesses. First floor businesses were ripped apart by water that came in during torrential rainstorms on Tuesday.
"I got here at 11:30 and the water was waist deep in the basement. All my refrigerators, freezers, were floating around," owner of Jaime's Restaurant, Jaime Faria told Healey.
Faria estimates that his damage is in the hundreds of thousands. His insurance told him it does not cover floods.
Another person lost millions in inventory. Heidi Janson, the founder of and CEO of non-profit Brides Across America, which donates wedding gowns to military and first responder brides, says she lost $3 million worth of gowns.
North Andover's town manager estimated the total damage of Tuesday's flooding to cost $20 million.
Healey said state assistance for the damaged businesses was up for discussion during a closed-door meeting between Lt. Governor Driscoll, Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, and local officials.
"We want to maximize people's ability to recover including funds from this but, you know, these are unprecedented times right now in terms of what we're seeing in terms of the severity," Healey said.