It’s code red in Red Hook.
The flooded Brooklyn peninsula, already devastated by Hurricane Sandy, is now facing another disaster — mass unemployment.
The monster storm has claimed a critical neighborhood anchor — the massive Fairway supermarket — leaving nearly 300 neighborhood workers drowning in uncertainly.
“It looks like someone threw a bomb in it,” said one stunned store employee.
Store officials predicted it would take at least two months to repair the supermarket at the end of Van Brunt Street. At the height of the hurricane’s fury, the first floor filled up with about four feet of water, destroying equipment and merchandise and knocking down aisles of products, workers said.Fairway rents a a former Civil War-era cotton and coffee warehouse that includes 45 luxury apartments, whose displaced tenants include A-list couple Michelle Williams and Jason Segel.
“The first floor of the store is completely wiped out,” said a store manager. “Everything is destroyed.”
Locals and outsiders alike flocked to the 52,000-square-foot gourmet retailer since it opened in 2006, attracted by its artisanal cheeses and rare coffee beans as well as fresh neat and produce and everyday products.
“I was realty hoping it wasn’t too damaged,” said neighborhood resident Martha Robinson. “This is the lifeblood of the neighborhood for quality food.”
Others came for the jobs: 240 of its 300 workers live in the neighborhood.
“The damage in Red Hook is truly devastating and what occurred along the waterfront and Van Brunt Street was truly a catastrophe. From big stores like Fairway to smaller businesses — everyone suffered huge losses. It will take time for these places to rebuild,” said Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce President Carlo Scissura, who’s organization is stationed in the neighborhood and assisting victims.
Gov. Cuomo tweeted yesterday that anyone unemployed as a result of Sandy should reach out to the Department of Labor to find out about available jobs “helping clean up storm-affected areas.”
And IKEA — the neighborhood’s other mega-retailer, which was largely unscathed by Sandy’s wrath — yesterday announced a hiring event for displaced Red Hook workers at its Beard Street store on Nov. 12 and 13.
Fairway says it’s offering all of its Red Hook employees the opportunity to work at other stores within the chain.